The Nexus of Worlds
by Lord Blood
Summary: A wormhole tears three boys from their homes and shoves them into a new world. A dream world. Together, the three will struggle for their very lives as they try to survive in this world of law and chaos.
1. Chapter 1

The Nexus of Worlds

Summary: A wormhole tears three boys from their homes and shoves them into a new world. A dream world. Together, the three will struggle for their very lives as they try to survive in this world of law and chaos.

Chapter 1

The sun was shining, the birds were chirping, and the monsters weren't trying to attack the bustling town. A perfect day, right?

Wrong.

On the outskirts of Cyril, a sudden distortion in the air caused the closeby animals to flee. A large sucking noise was heard, and the distortion became a large black hole of nothingness.

Three yells were emitted, and three boys of varying ages popped out of the black hole in a mess of flailing limbs.

The first boy, blond and pale-skinned, was the first to untangle himself out of the mess that he was suddenly thrown in. His red hoody and and matching red baggy shorts were ruffled during the little scuffle, so he got up and patted himself down. Looking around, he noticed the two other boys laying on the ground, still tangled, and asked aloud, "Hey, what happened?"

The second boy, after hearing one of the two boys shout, looked up, and saw the first boy. He picked himself up, his chin-length white hair billowing in the wind. He had tanned skin, a small unbuttoned vest that showed off his defined abs, and tight, black pants. A red sash was wrapped around his waist, and he wore long black greaves that went just above his shins. He was also wearing a pair of black gauntlets over his arms, looking not only stylish, but good for a fight. "I dunno. I was just talking to Migelo when everything went black."

The third boy, blond like the first, stood up and tried to look dignified. "I was talking to my lord brother when I too, experienced a moment of darkness," he said haughtily. His blond hair, tied back in a ponytail, looked well kept, like he was royalty. His blue windbreaker had an elaborate symbol on it, which happened to be the royal insignia of his family. He wore a pair of brown gauntlets and loose pants, ending with a pair of leather boots.

The soft pitter-patter of a pair of small feet suddenly rang through the area. "Ooh, I can't wait to join a clan, kupo. Taking on missions, beating up bad guys, and shooting lightning bolts out of my fingers, kupo! Ooh, I can't wait! Kupo! But where am I going to find a clan that'll take me in?"

A small creature appeared in front of the boys, causing all three to stare. The creature had small eyes, yellow, bat-like wings, and an antenna with a yellow ball sticking out of his head. The creature's ears were pointy and furry, like a cat's, and its fur was a nice yellow color.

The creature looked up, staring at the three tall humans. They stared back. A minute passed between the four before the creature asked, "Are you guys part of a clan, kupo? 'Cause I really want to join one. I can do lots of things, kupo! Really!"

"Wait, wait, wait," the first boy said. "I don't mean to be rude, but...what are you?"

"What am I, kupo? What do you mean, kupo? You've never seen a moogle before, kupo?"

"A moogle? But those are only in the Final Fantasy games..." the first boy wondered aloud.

"Moogles appear only in legend, of days gone by!" the third boy protested. "I've heard stories from my father about moogles, vieras, bangaas, and nu mou! Do you mean to tell that those exist too?" he asked condescendingly.

"Uh, yeah, kupo."

The second boy, silent until now, decided to speak up. "You guys have never seen a moogle? What planet are you from?" he replied with a laugh.

"I'm from St. Ivalice," the first boy piped up. "And I've seen moogles, but only in games. Same with vieras, bangaas, and nu mou."

"And I too, am from Ivalice, yet moogles are the stuff of times gone by. From centuries ago!" the third boy declared.

"I'm from Ivalice too, but I see moogles, bangaas, nu mou, and vieras everyday in Rabanastre," the second boy piped up.

"Uhhh," the moogle began hesitantly, looking at the first and the third boy like they were crazy. "Well, this _is _Ivalice, kupo."

Two bursts of "What? No way!" were heard from two of the three boys.

"Alright, kupo, let's introduce ourselves first before trying to figure this stuff out, kupo. I'm Montblanc!"

The first boy spoke up. "I'm Marche Radiuju, but you can call me Marche."

"And I'm Vaan!" the tanned boy said brightly.

"I am Ramza, heir to the noble House of Beoulve, brother of the noble Dycedarg and Zalbaag," the third boy spoke. From his introduction, he was clearly of noble birth.

Montblanc, after Ramza finished his introduction, said, "Alright, so we all claim to be from Ivalice, kupo, yet two of you have never seen a moogle, and the other one says he's from Rabanastre, kupo, yet I, who have lived here my whole life, has never heard of a place of that name, kupo."

"Perhaps," Marche offered, "we're from different dimensions of Ivalice."

The three others looked at him with a weird look.

"What?" he tried to defend himself. "Things like this happen all the time in video games and comic books!"

"Kupo, I think it makes sense," Montblanc said. "All three of you claim to be from Ivalice, yet clearly, you are not from _this _Ivalice, if you have not seen anything besides humans, kupo."

"Alright, I guess that does make sense," Vaan spoke up. "So how do we get back?"

"I'm afraid I don't know. Although, I'm pretty sure there are people out here in the world that _do _know, kupo!"

"So let's go find them!" Vaan suggested.

"Unfortunately, there are many dangers between the paths from one town to another, so we would need to either form a clan or be in one to travel safely...kupo."

"What exactly do you mean by a clan, Montblanc?" Ramza asked.

"Well, a bunch of people get together to form a group, kupo, and we take missions to do stuff, like fighting bandits and protecting the merchants."

"Let's form one then!" Vaan spoke up once more. It seemed that he was a ball of never-ending energy.

"Good idea, kupo, but...you need a job first though, kupo."

"Job?" Marche asked the small moogle.

"Yeah, kupo! Like, for instance, I'm going to be a black mage! I might branch off and learn some time magic later on, kupo, but for now, I just want to shoot lightning, throw fire, and freeze the bad guys!"

"So how do we get a job?" Ramza questioned Montblanc.

"Well, kupo," Montblanc said, taking out a book from his pouch. "Here's a common book for people who want to start a clan. It says:

_To form a clan:_

_First you need at least four members._

_Second, you must read the clan handbook  
_

_Third, each member needs to have a job. Jobs can be changed later.  
_

_Fourth, after having accomplished the three things above, you need to visit the Clan Building in each town and register your clan. Judges will test you to make sure you are proficient enough to form a clan._ _If your skills in your job are not deemed ready, your request to form a clan will be denied._"

"Well, we have the first one done," Marche deadpanned. "Now what about the other three?"

"Well, kupo, let's start with the second one. This book includes the clan handbook already, so you three go ahead and read it. I've already read it lots of times, so I'm good, kupo."

The trio of humans read through the section, taking an entire thirty minutes to learn the rules of being in a clan, what it entailed, and what you could do as a clan.

"Alright, we understand now," Vaan declared! "Now, let's go make a clan!"

"We still haven't done the other two," Ramza replied. "Montblanc, do you know where we can find information about the jobs?"

"Of course, kupo! That book right there has it all, kupo!"

Going back to the book, the three then read the first part of the section on jobs for humans.

_Soldier_

_Soldiers are able to lower enemy status parameters with their "Breaks". With good stat growth in HP, Weapon Attack and Defense, Soldiers are obviously a good choice as melee fighting units. Their only real weakness is magic, but anti-mage abilities like Mind Break, Magic break and Provoke help counteract this deficit. First Aid is useful for getting rid of Poison, Darkness and other status abnormalities and as a nice bonus it recovers a bit of HP as well. Sensor is a great ability to support Thieves as it lets you discover really rare, concealed equipment on the enemy. Therefore, Thieves work well with Soldiers. Monkey Grip isn't a very useful S-Ability, as it's only real use is to allow Soldiers and Paladins equip a Shield with a Large Sword. Shieldbearer is decent for weaker classes like Ninja, Black Mages and Illusionists. This job is a basic job.  
_

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Vaan said. "I'm confused here! What's with the enemy status, stat growths, HP, and stuff?" Vaan asked, pointing at all the technical terms.

"Well, kupo, enemy status is well, kupo, their status. They might be poisoned, petrified, confused, and stuff. HP, Weapon Attack, Weapon Defense, and any stats like that are just the way judges rank you. HP means how much damage you can take before you're knocked out, kupo. Weapon Attack is how strong you can hit, and Weapon Defence is how good you are at blocking or defending against attacks from the opponent, kupo. I'll explain the others as they're mentioned, kupo."

_Paladin_

_ Paladins (or Holy Knights) are very defense oriented knights that require foreknowledge in being a Soldier. With excellent stat growth in both Weapon and Magic Defense, and abilities such as Nurse, Guard and Cover, they are made to resist strong attacks, and consequently help keep weaker units stay alive too. Their sluggish speed and excellent defense make them a very tank-like unit. Paladins are fairly mediocre fighting units. However, they can equip strong Knight Swords, and having two Holy elemental attacks at their disposal, Holy Cross and Saint Cross, does help things. Parley is a good way of getting rid of units that will or have a good chance of being revived, as they are gone for good. As far as R-Abilities go, Reflex is probably only second to Strikeback. No weapon shall touch you once it is equipped. Weapon Def+ further consolidates their role as "protective" units. This job is an advanced job.  
_

"More mumbo-jumbo," Vaan muttered.

"Magic Defense should be pretty obvious, kupo. It's just how well you defend against magical attacks. R-Abilities are basically moves that you use subconsciously, kupo."

"Um, what does it mean by 'a chance of being revived'?" Marche asked this time.

"Well, kupo, in an engagement, if you get a fatal blow, you die. A pheonix down or a white magic move can bring you back. After the engagement is over, the judge will automatically revive you, so you don't have to worry about truly dying, kupo."

_Fighter_

_The most battle hardened (and battle ready) class for humans, needing some experience as a Soldier first. It's pretty obvious that Fighters are extremely good melee fighting units, from their very strong Weapon Attack stat growth to their huge variety of attack abilities. This class provides useful ranged abilities early in the game that do not consume MP for humans. Air Render is extremely deadly at the start of the game, but its effectiveness declines as the game progresses. Blitz is great when the attack doesn't need to cause much damage, but when accuracy is important; like when a critical and dangerous enemy's turn is coming up, or when damage restriction laws are in place. Beatdown causes ludicrous amounts of damage if it connects, but it will connect for sure if you have another unit in tow that can Stop or put units to Sleep easily. Fighters have two R-Abilities at their disposal: Bonecrusher and Strikeback. Bonecrusher causes more damage, but it requires you to sustain damage as well. Strikeback on the other hand is like "Reflex" and "Counter" where you'll essentially turn the opponent's attack against them. This job is an advanced job.  
_

"MP is, basically, the amount of magical energy you possess to use magical spells, kupo. Nu mous, since they are more magically-oriented than any other race, usually have higher MP ranks than the others, kupo."

"Um, Montblanc? What exactly does it mean by stat growth again? I still don't get it," Vaan asked with a puzzled look on his face.

"Well, kupo, fighters for instance have very strong Weapon Attack stat growth. This means that the more you train as a fighter, the stronger your Weapon Attack will be, kupo."

"Oh, so when it says that paladins have excellent stat growth in Weapon and Magic Defense, it means that your defense will get better the more you train as a paladin?" Ramza asked.

"Correct, kupo."

_Thief_

_Swift and agile, only moogles and humans have the required dexterity be a Thief. They have unmatched Evade and better than average Move and Jump; they can traverse the battlefield much more freely and quickly than most other units. Unfortunately they only have average stat growth for all stats apart from Speed. Also, Steal: Ability is probably the best A-Ability in the game, with it you can practical master whole jobs in a single battle. Steal: Gil is pretty useful, because money is always a good thing to have. Thieves surprisingly can deal quite respectable damage once equipped with strong Knives like the Orichalcum and Cinquedea. Counter is a great R-Ability for beginners, before you have access to something more potent. And Maintenance is semi-useful, especially when you're up against a lot of Snipers and Thieves. This job is a basic job.  
_

"Oh, kupo," Montblanc moaned. "There's so many things in this one that you probably have questions on, huh, kupo?"

Three nods were his answer.

"You know what, kupo? Take this second book." Montblanc pulled out a second book.

Marche took the book and opened it. Inside was a whole glossary for terms that beginners would not understand.

Evade, Move, and Jump were all stats that determine how well you can dodge attacks, how far you can move without getting tired, and how high you can jump. Speed was a stat that determined how fast you can move before getting tired. A-Abilities were abilities that you consciously decided to use.

After the three boys understood all the technical terms used in the description for thieves, they turned a page in the first book to read about the next job.

_Ninja_

_Ninjas are versatile humans who have had training in being a Thief. Not only can they throw all types of weapons after learning a single ability, but they can use the Goton techniques, ancient ninjutsu laws of escape based on the five elements. The Goton are a pretty mediocre variety of weak status-causing techniques combined with an element. Ninjas can also use the ability Oblivion, which prevents the target from using Action Abilities. They have unmatched Speed and good Weapon Attack and Magical Power stat growth, but very poor HP growth, due to their constant exposure to danger. Basically, they are very quick and potent killers, but they are very vulnerable. Their Double Sword technique is probably the best Support Ability, as Ninjas get two hits in per attack, causing unimaginable devastation! This job is an advanced job.  
_

"Goton?" Vaan asked with a look of confusion on him.

"Kupo, I don't really know what that is, since I haven't studied up on human jobs. The only thing I really know about them is that Goton translates into the Five Releases, kupo."

_White Mage_

_If you want to keep your clan healthy and alive, a White Mage is arguably__ the best job to have. Although probably superseded by Summoners with Unicorn and__ Sages with Raise later in the game, White Mages can still hold their own.__ You can recover HP with the Cure-spells, purge status abnormalities with__ Esuna, revive your fellow members with Life-spells, and boost their defenses__ with Shell and Protect. Also, unlike if you were to heal with Items you don't__ have to constantly fork out gil to keep your stocks up, magic is essentially__ free. Turbo MP makes spells far more effective, but you'll__ probably drain your MP way before the battle finishes. Humans make pretty__ mediocre White Mages, viera make decent White Mages, but nu mou definitely__ make the best White Mages thanks to their gift with magic. This job is a basic job.  
_

"I actually understood everything in this one," Vaan piped up with a grin.

_Black Mage_

_Masters of the three primary elements. What Black Mages lack in variety they make up with sheer magical power (they have very strong Magical Power stat growth). Unfortunately, they have very low HP stat growth, which means they will probably get killed by a strong attack before they can inflict strong damage on the enemy. Because of that, jobs like Sage are probably a better choice for offensive magic. Return Magic is a great R-Ability, but enemy units tend to attack with weapons more than magic, so it is triggered far less frequently than other Reaction Abilities. Geomancy powers up pretty much all magic, and also some elemental attacks as well. This job is a basic job.  
_

_Illusionist_

_Illusionists can cause reasonably small amounts of elemental damage to all enemies on the battlefield. The damage inflicted by their illusions may seem insignificant, but it all adds up. Also, with illusions you can finish off numerous units that are only hanging on by a thread (of HP). Unfortunately, Illusionists are very vulnerable units, with very low Evade and below average HP stat growth. Thankfully they can attack from wherever, so the best strategy with a Illusionist would to keep them out of harm's way whilst casting. The Half MP Support Ability is especially useful for Illusionist, since illusions are relatively MP expensive magic. Absorb MP is semi-useful Reaction Ability, since it will keep your MP topped up, but you have to be constantly hit by magic for it to work. This job is an advanced job for humans and nu mou only, and require extensive training in both white magics and black magics.  
_

_Blue Mage_

_Blue Mages can learn (and then use in battle) specific monster abilities after being attacked by them. Their versatility is their strength, having access to a huge range of abilities. You can heal with White Wind, attack and poison enemies with Poison Claw, power fellow clan members up with Mighty Guard and Dragon Force, inflict numerous status abnormalities with Bad Breath, and other amazing techniques. If you equip a lot of your units with equipment that protects against Sleep (such as the Fortune Ring) you can use Night to put all of your enemies to sleep. If you wish to be a Blue Mage, it's very important that you train with a Beastmaster, to Control monsters into teaching the Blue Mage his abilities. Blue Mages require quite a lot of work to learn all of their possible abilities, which is quite a significant drawback. Damage MP is almost as good as invincibility! Each unit regains 5 MP a turn, and it only takes 1 MP for an oncoming attack to be completely absorbed. It's really effective on units that don't even use MP, like Soldiers or Fighters. Immunity is a great if you want to keep your units status abnormality free, but it's not like you can't do that already by equipping various items. This job is an advanced job for humans only and requires basic training in white and black magic.  
_

"Ooh! I know what I want to be now," Vaan cried. "I wanna be a Blue Mage!"

Ramza retorted, "You realize that first, you need to know some white magic and black magic, and second, we need a Beastmaster in our clan, right?"

"Oh, right," Vaan said, crestfallen. "Well then, we'll just have to hurry up and recruit one!" he yelled, his mood suddenly taking an about-face.

_Archer_

_You'll tend to be really weak when you first start training to be an Archer, but Aim: Legs and Aim: Arm are exceptionally useful abilities that enable you to disable potentially dangerous enemies from a very safe distance. Burial allows you to deal with undead monsters for good, and Cupid, as its name suggests, forces your enemies to suddenly develop an intense infatuation with your allies (although it has a low success rate). Faster is all right, but most Archers will automatically avoid most deadly reaction abilities due to their range. Concentrate is a very useful support ability since it essentially increases your accuracy rate to 95 percent. This is very useful for reasonably inaccurate units like Archers. This job is for humans and vieras only and is a__ basic job._

"Hmph," Ramza snorted disdainfully. "Only cowards would choose to be such a lowly job. _Real _men would be soldiers or fighters or paladins and take the fight to the enemy."

"Yeah, but you have to admit," Marche butted in, "Archers can be pretty helpful when you're in a tight spot."

Ramza ignored Marche.

_Hunter_

_Hunters are very much like advanced Archers, but with abilities focusing on subduing monsters. Hunters can Capture monsters, transfer them from battle to the Monster Bank, and receive a monster soul in the process. Due to this, you need a Hunter to have a functional Shapeshifter, since they use Souls as weapons. With the Sidewinder ability, Hunters can cause twice as much damage to monsters without any drawbacks. Also, being the Human users of Ultima, __Hunters are capable of causing serious damage with Ultima Shot__ (arguably the best Ultima because of its range). They also have strong Weapon Attack and above average MP stat growth, presumably to maintain Ultima Shot's_ _effectiveness. This job is an advanced job for humans only and requires semi-extensive knowledge in being an Archer._

The three curious human boys and single adventurous moogle then flipped the page. The title of the next section was labeled, "Bangaa Jobs", causing them to close the book, as they weren't interested in bangaa jobs at the moment.

"Alright, now that we now all about the possible jobs for us, we should pick what we want to do," Marche suggested.

"Hmmm," Ramza thought carefully. "I may need some more time to think this through, as there are quite a few interesting jobs."

"Don't forget, kupo, that some jobs need training in other jobs before you can access them," the small moogle added helpfully.

"Let's all think about it while we head towards the Clan Building," Marche said.

Three nods answered him.

-

Fifteen minutes later, the quartet arrived in front of a very large and very busy building. People were coming and going every second, and it seemed more like a marketplace than a place for beginners to learn their skills. They headed to the desk, where an elderly man manned the clan registrations.

"How can I help you boys today?" the old man asked kindly.

"Well, these three are here to get equipment for their first jobs, kupo," Montblanc said.

"Ah, three new potential adventurers, eh? So what do you three want to do? I trust you read the guidebook," the man trailed off.

"Yes we have, and yes, we have decided," Ramza declared. "I would like to be a Soldier, please."

The man nodded. "The most basic of all jobs, yet also may turn out to be the most rewarding. Most suited for those who like short-range combat," he commented. He then turned to Vaan.

"I'd like to be a Thief, mister," Vaan informed him.

"Quick and agile, perfect for those who are quick on their feet and handy with their hands," the man commented again. He finally turned to Marche.

"As for me...I think I'd like to be an Archer, sir," Marche told him.

"Quick and dexterous, perfect for those who are gifted with steady hands and good eyesight," the man commented once more. "Now, please excuse me for a moment while I get your beginner's gear."

Five minutes passed before the man returned. In his hands was a large pile of gear. He haphazardly set it on the counter and sighed in relief. It was heavy, after all, and he was getting on in his years.

"For you," he said to Ramza. The old man gave him four things and sent him off to a small changing room on the side where he could put everything on. "And for you," he said to Vaan. Vaan quickly grabbed the things and hurried to the second changing room. "And finally, for you," he said to Marche, who also took the things and headed towards the third changing room.

Vaan, although not the first in, was the first out. He popped out of the room with a large grin on his face and asked Montblanc, "How do I look?"

A sturdy light-green cap covered his white hair, and a feather stuck out of the side of the garment. He wore a leather garb that went over his vest and left it unbuttoned, which left his abs still uncovered. His hands were empty, and when Montblanc looked pointedly at where his weapon should've been, a small knife popped out of his sleeve and into his awaiting hand.

"A Jack Knife, kupo," Montblanc noted. "It's really...small."

'Yup," Vaan agreed. "It's small enough to fit in my sleeve (and my palm), and with a simple flick of my wrist, it pops out right into my hand! How cool is that? I can't wait to use it in an engagement, 'cause I'll be kicking so much butt!" the boy continued to ramble about how cool he was going to be.

Marche was the second one to appear. His red hoody was gone, leaving him with a white tanktop and a leather garb, like Vaan's, that went over the flimsy and small shirt. On his head lay a green beret, which looked like it matched well with the Longbow in his hands. It was plain-looking, but it was also four feet tall when placed vertically on the ground. The weapon would no doubt be put to good use.

And finally, Ramza stepped out. He appeared to have gone through the most changes. His hair was completely covered by the bronze helm, leaving only his face available to be seen. He wore a brown cuirass, which was a chestplate that Soldiers tended to use. Strapped to his back was a Shortsword.

"Alright! Now, it's time to make a clan!" Vaan cheered.

"We still need to _train_, Vaan," Marche deadpanned.

"Oh, right. Let's go train then!"

-

The quartet were walking along one of the very crowded streets in Cyril when Vaan bumped into a tough orange-skinned bangaa.

"Hey!" the bangaa growled in a deep voice. "Who do you think you are, hitting me like that?"

"What do you mean 'hit you'? I bumped into you by accident, which you should be expecting since it's a crowded street!" Vaan huffed.

"You better watch your mouth, human. Now apologize to me and I'll let you weaklings go without getting hurt," the bangaa demanded.

"Nuh uh!" Vaan shook his head. "You apologize to _me_, you stupid lizard!"

Gasps were heard all along the street as people stopped to watch the incoming fight. Everyone knew that calling a bangaa a lizard to its face was like asking the prince if he spent more time doing his hair than his mom. It was suicidal.

"That's it you little bastard! I declare an engagement!" the orange bangaa yelled as he pulled a small white card out from its pouch.

The three boys (Vaan, Marche, and Ramza) all glanced at Montblanc, who seemed to forget to explain the cards.

A whistle was blown, and the crowd parted as a man riding a chocobo appeared. The man was covered in shining, silver armor. Not a single piece of skin was shown.

"An engagement has been declared," the judge said monotonously. "Laws for this match: items!"

"Huh," Vaan said as he looked around wildly. "What's that mean?"

"Don't worry, kupo. You three don't need to worry about that right now. I'll explain after this, kupo!"

"Match, begin!" the judge announced and moved back out of range of the two opposing sides' attacks.

The orange-skinned Warrior who Vaan picked a fight with ran straight at the white-haired thief, shortsword raised above his head. The bangaa then brought it down on Vaan, who managed to dodge to the side.

"Whoa!" he cried out. Jumping up from his roll, Vaan's Jack Knife appeared in his hand. He darted forward in an attempt to stab the attacking bangaa, but the lizard-like creature jumped back to avoid the attack.

"Hah!" the bangaa scoffed. "A Jack Knife?"

The bangaa's friend, a blue-skinned bangaa, then leapt upwards with a mighty leap. Marche, Ramza, and Montblanc all turned their heads up to look. The orange-skinned bangaa took advantage of their momentary distraction to charge forward. He swung his Shortsword horizontally, hoping to catch the three who hadn't yet done anything.

Unfortunately, Vaan noticed this.

"Watch out!' he yelled.

Marche and Montblanc ducked, but Ramza used his own Shortsword to block the attack. Their swords rang with vibrations. The Warrior then pushed with extra strength, forcing Ramza to stumble backwards, and luckily avoiding the follow-up slash that came after.

Marche, unstrapping his Longbow from his back, cocked the bow with an arrow quite clumsily and tried to shoot it at the airborne bangaa. He pulled the string back (and the arrow with it), and let it loose, but the arrow flew only a feet up before falling to the ground.

"What a weakling!" the bangaa crowed at seeing Marche's pathetic attempt at shooting an arrow as he hit the ground with a thud.

Marche, having been ridiculed, growled in annoyance. He had been made fun of enough times at school by the kids there, and he could do nothing about it. But now, here in this world, he had the power to make those who would insult him crumble, yet he still couldn't even shut up an annoying bangaa.

He reached behind his back to the quiver and pulled out another arrow. He slowly and carefully cocked the arrow and pulled the string back. With a great yell, the arrow was released, and it sped true, right into the blue-skinned bangaa's chest.

The blue bangaa's eyes widened in surprise before he collapsed against the ground.

The orange bangaa turned towards his friend, shocked that he was defeated by a simple arrow, but then he turned around and his eyes narrowed. He roared and started to run at his closest target: Montblanc. The small moogle squeaked and his hand started to glow blue with power.

Just as the bangaa was about to strike Montblanc, the moogle pointed one finger at the charging lizard-like creature and shouted, "Thunder!"

A bolt of lightning leapt from Montblanc's rod and slammed into the Warrior's arm, who jumped back to try to avoid it at the same time.

The Warrior growled. "Shit, that hurt!" Reaching into his pouch, the blue bangaa pulled out a vial of blue liquid and quickly downed it. "Ah," he sighed in relief as the pain went away.

However, his relief soon turned to dread as a shrill whistle was blown. "Violation of laws! Red card!" The judge approached the law-breaking bangaa and slapped a red card against him. The bangaa immediately disappeared in a flash of light with a scream.

The judge then turned towards the quartet and announced, "You four are the winners. You may loot the losers."

Montblanc explained, "Since we won, we get to take whatever we want from the losers, kupo. We only get a little bit of time, so if this were a real battle between clans, we'd have to hurry to loot all of the enemies, kupo.. This is also how clans make their money, okay, kupo?"

The three humans nodded. Marche hurried to loot his kill, while Vaan and Ramza stayed behind to ask Montblanc another question.

"And the laws?"

"Oh yes, kupo. The laws prohibit use of something, kupo. Today's rule was items. Therefore, if you break the rules and use an item, like that blue bangaa, kupo, you'd be given a red card which means you're going to jail. A yellow card is just a random penalty, like taking away some gil or one of your items, kupo. The laws also change everyday, so it's best if you ask the judge what the laws are before each engagement, kupo."

As soon as Montblanc finished explaining about the laws, Marche came back with a potion in his hand. "There wasn't anything else worth taking," he explained.

"Kupo, I see we're going to need a lot of training..." the moogle pointed out. This conclusion was reached by the moogle by the fact that Marche's first shot was pathetic, Ramza was easily overpowered, and Vaan couldn't even touch the orange bangaa.

-

The four new friends were soon gathered in a clearing near the moogle's home.

"So, um, what now?" Vaan asked.

"Well, kupo, you train now. Practice shooting arrows, using your dagger, or swinging your sword, kupo. After you three can do that pretty well, I'll let you in on a wonderful secret, kupo," Montblanc grinned.

Sighing, the three boys each headed to a section of the trees while they did as Montblanc said.

Marche cocked arrows to his bows and fire them at several tree trunks, trying to make it a game with himself to see how well he could hit the tree. Although his first few shots were weak and pathetic, his sixth shot hit the very edge of the trunk.

Ramza, using his Shortsword, practiced striking an imaginary foe as he had once seen his two older brothers do. He swung the sword horizontally, vertically, and diagonally before repeating.

"One, two, three. Two, two three. Three, two, three," the blond boy muttered to himself as he counted the number of sets he did. His goal was to get 500 sets in before night came.

Vaan, who learned to be quick with his hands due to all the pilfering he did in Rabanastre, played with his Jack Knife. He would toss it into the air before snatching it out of the air the moment it reached it climax, and then he'd throw it back and forth between his hands, until it was once again sent flying upwards. By doing this, he was further improving the speeds at which he could move his hands.

"I'm going to keep doing this until I can move my hands so fast that no one can see them!" Vaan promised himself as he practiced.

-

After Montblanc decided that the three were passable with their respective weapons, he called them over.

"Well, kupo, you wanna hear the secret now?"

"Yeah!" Vaan yelled with glee.

"Well, you see, each weapon has its own special ability that you can learn, kupo. Like, I know that Ramza's Shortsword has the First Aid technique, kupo! And if you meditate a little, you'll be able to access the technique. Once you master the skill, which you'll know the moment you do it, you'll be able to use the skill even if you're not using the weapon, kupo. Until then, if the skill is not mastered, the weapon will be very important to you, kupo!"

"That's awesome!" Vaan cried. "Let's start trying it now!"

Without waiting for anyone to answer him, Vaan jogged back to his corner and sat down, legs crossed. He closed his eyes and sat there for a whole minute, while the other three watched, until he turned back around and frowned. "My ability is Steal: Gil, but I already know how to pickpocket people," he complained.

"Can you pickpocket people in a middle of a battle, kupo? While everyone is moving and shouting and while you're being attacked, kupo?"

"Well, I don't think so," Vaan answered sheepishly.

"What was it like to find out about your ability?" Marche asked.

Vaan replied, "Well, I closed my eyes, and the dark seemed to disappear! I opened my eyes and it was suddenly all white. It hurt my eyes too! Anyway, the name of the ability just popped up in front of me in huge letters, and then the white disappeared to be replaced by a battlefield of some sort. I was in some kind of forest, and I could see myself using the Steal: Gil technique on some guy...After that, the battlefield disappeared and the white came back. I blinked, and suddenly, I knew how to do the move. Now I just need to practice it." Vaan went back to his section of the clearing and started to practice the move. The three watched on a little longer as the Jack Knife in Vaan's hands snaked out and seemed to slice something open, like a money pouch.

"I guess I'll go try mine now," Ramza commented after a minute.

"Yeah, same here," Marche agreed.

Montblanc smiled and sat back to watch his new friends train their newfound skills. He remembered the first time he accessed his Black Mage skills, and he knew it would be an exciting moment for all three of them.

-

Night came and the four boys (Montblanc is still pretty young, after all), headed back to the moogle's small but cozy home.

"Sorry, kupo, but I'm used to only living with my brother. One of you can take his bed, kupo, and the other two can take the two couches here," Montblanc gestured to the two miniscule couches that seemed to be have the human boys' size.

"Rock paper scissors?" Vaan asked with a grin. He was good at this game, if only because everyone else were too slow to see how Vaan cheated.

Marche and Ramza agreed, and the three boys threw their hands out.

The two blonds both made a fist, and Vaan had an open hand out.

"I win!" Vaan crowed.

"Damn," the other two boys cursed in disappointment.

The two losers sulked as Vaan ran off to his new bed, but a loud groan brought them out of their misery. "The bed is even smaller than the couches!" Vaan whined.

Ramza and Marche hurried over and when they saw the bed, they doubled over laughing.

"Nice one," Marche said, still wiping away his tears of laughter, as Vaan pouted.

-

The next morning, the four boys slowly woke up and gathered in Montblanc's small kitchen.

"So, what do we now?" Vaan asked.

"Well, we could find some other people who are looking to form clans and challenge them to a fight, kupo," Montblanc suggested. "You three can get more experience that way, kupo!"

"Can't we just try to recruit them into the clan or join theirs?"

"Well, yes kupo, but most either wouldn't want a group of three newbies, no offense, and a simple black mage to join them," Montlbanc explained.

"What do you mean, 'a simple black mage'?!" Vaan cried out. "You were shooting lightning from your fingertips before! That's not 'simple'!"

"Well, for us moogles, black mage is the most common job, and I'm sure that there are a lot of stronger moogles out there, kupo," Montblanc said sadly.

"Oh, don't let that get you down!" Vaan said with a lot of enthusiasm. "To us, you're already the best!"

"T-thanks, kupo," the moogle said quietly. Strengthening his resolve, Montblanc commanded, "Now let's go find some people to challenge!"

-

"Ummm, Montblanc? How do we declare engagements?" Marche asked.

"Well, if you remember, kupo, that bangaa from yesterday pulled out a card and yelled that he declared an engagement. That's basically it, kupo."

"But where do we get the cards?"

"Oh! The judge usually gives them out if you ask for them...You three should ask him for some when he appears, kupo!"

Silence ensued after that, as the quartet walked along the streets of Cyril, looking for a group to challenge.

They found their targets right away. A group of five girls were walking towards them from the opposite direction. The person in front, who the quartet assumed to be the leader, was staring straight at them. It seemed that they had the same idea.

The leader approached the quartet and looked at each one. She had long, blond hair, piercing blue eyes, and a Silver Sword strapped to her back.

"So," she drawled, "Where do you guys want to do this?"

"The arena, kupo," Montblanc replied tersely, straight up at the human Soldier.

The arena was exactly as its name implied. An arena. It was small, made of stone, and was perfect for beginning clans to fight in. The place would've been a popular place for entertainment if the participants weren't usually beginners who sucked.

The two groups walked towards the stone arena side by side.

Upon reaching the designated location, the leader of the opposing group spun towards Montblanc and held up a card in her hand. "I declare an engagement!"

"So, what's your name, kupo?" Montblanc asked casually as the judge appeared on his chocobo.

"The name's Jordan," she answered the question just as casually.

"Montblanc," the moogle named himself.

"An engagement has been declared! Laws for this match: Shell!" the judge announced loudly. "Match, begin!"

"So, how do you want to do this?" Jordan asked. "You wanna make it a one-on-one, a battle royale, or what?"

"How about a one-on-one, kupo? Those three need experience real badly," Montblanc replied, pointing at his companions. The moogle had easily taken leadership of their soon-to-be clan for the moment, since he was the one who had introduced them to this new world.

"You sure that's a good idea? We have five in our group, and you have four," Jordan informed the moogle. "Me and the girls are pretty experienced. You shouldn't take us as weaklings just because we _are _girls," she warned.

"Then it's the best of four rounds. If it's tied two to two, then your fifth person will fight one of us," Montblanc said.

"Fine. Oy, judge! You hear us?"

The judge nodded once.

"Alright then, Jamie, you're up first."

A young, slender girl with tanned skin and sharp, blue eyes stepped up. She wore a feather cap over her brown hair and a leather garb like Vaan did, but she held nothing in her hands as she walked up.

"She's probably a thief, kupo," Montblanc surmised.

"I'll go then!" Vaan volunteered. After all, what better way to test your skills than against someone with the same job?

The two stood face to face. Jamie was calm and relaxed, while Vaan was bouncing on the heels of his feet with his Jack Knife in his right hand.

At some unseen signal, Jamie dashed forward, hands still empty.

The onlookers blinked, and a Jack Knife suddenly appeared in her hands.

"Fast!" Vaan murmured in surprise. He blinked again and she was suddenly a yard away from him. She swung her small dagger horizontally at him at neck-height, but Vaan stumbled back and managed to just avoid getting his throat slit.

Regaining his footing, Vaan took two steps and managed to be nose to nose with the brunette. She grunted in surprise and tried to back off, but Vaan's dagger was already at her throat.

"Surrender!" he warned. "I don't like hurting girls!"

She replied with a a knee to the gut. Vaan doubled over, clutching his injured gut. Jamie clasped her hands together, Jack Knife in between her hands and blade pointing down. She swung downwards in an attempt to stab Vaan's unprotected back.

Vaan, although he couldn't see what Jamie was doing, knew that it would be best to back away, so he rolled back in time to avoid the dagger plunging into the middle of his back. Unfortunately, the Jack Knife still pierced his shoulder. His momentum ripped the knife out of Jamie's hands, and she cried out in surprise.

The white-haired Thief got to his feet, although unsteadily, due to the wound inflicted by Jamie's dagger. Jamie's weapon, which had been ripped out during Vaan's roll back, lay a few feet behind Vaan, who still had his own Jack Knife in his hand.

Vaan held his Jack Knife out in front of him, as if to ward off Jamie's approach. However, Vaan learned the hard way that he shouldn't underestimate a girl like Jamie. She ran straight at him anyway, and when Vaan swung the knife at her, she sidestepped it, grabbed his arm, and threw him over his shoulder. Vaan landed on his back with a thud, letting loose a groan at the same time.

Vaan's Jack Knife appeared in Jamie's hands, pointed at his neck.

"I give," he said weakly.

Jamie pulled back and casually lobbed the knife to Vaan, who managed to catch it in his hand as he got up. She went over to her own Jack Knife, picked it up, and flicked it into the air. Vaan's eyes followed its trail upwards, but it disappeared the moment it reached a foot above her hand.

His eyes widened at Jamie's skill. She was definitely faster than he was.

Vaan walked slowly back to his friends with his hand on his shoulder, clutching the bleeding wound.

Back on the other side, Jordan grinned. "Nice one, Jamie," she complimented as she pat the younger girl on the head. Jamie seemed to beam at the compliment.

"Now, Jasmine, your turn!"

A girl in her teens approached the platform. Dressed in the standard gear that the old man at the Clan Building gave out, she looked quite unassuming.

Marche decided it was his turn, as, like Vaan, he thought it would be good to have an Archer fight an Archer.

"Hi! I'm Jasmine!" the girl greeted with a smile on her face.

"Marche," the Archer greeted her in return.

"Let's have a good fight!"

"Uh huh."

_Whoosh!_

An arrow sped past Marche's right ear, causing him to recoil in shock. Jasmine had nocked an arrow, pulled the string back, and fired as soon as the words "uh huh" left his mouth.

Marche opened his mouth to say something, but whatever he was going to say was lost as Jasmine did not pause in her firing. Her Longbow was already in her hands, and she was firing arrows at an impressive speed.

"I'll show you what I've got," Marche muttered to himself, as he continued to dodge the arrows.

He nocked his own arrow and fired while strifing. Most of them were not even close, as he was moving sideways as he continually fired. One or two came close to hitting her, but she would either bat them away with the four foot tall bow or just evade them completely.

"Boost." Marche nocked another arrow and pulled the string back as far back as he could, still dodging Jasmine's arrows. "Ha!" With a primal yell of triumph, Marche released his hand from the arrow, and the increased amount of built up tension caused the arrow to fly far faster than any of Jasmine's own shots.

Unfortunately, in his haste to fire, his aim was off by a bit, so the arrow flew right under Jasmine's armpits. The whooshing sound made by Marche's shot was tremendous compared to her own shots, and it surprised Jasmine, as she was definitely not expecting Marche to be so good.

A wide grin suddenly bloomed on Jasmine's face. "Nice shot! Let me show you my best shot! Boost!"

At the same time, Marche prepared to use his own Boost.

The two pulled the strings back as far as it could go, aiming at each other. Both stood still. Apparently, this would be the final move.

_Twang!_

The sounds of arrows being released filled the air, despite the fact that it was only just _two _arrows.

Both arrows found their way into their target's hearts.

"Marche!" Vaan and Ramza cried out in distress. This was the first time they experienced death in an engagement, and even though they knew that he would be revived, seeing your friend shot in the heart with an arrow was cause for worry.

The judge blew his whistle, and with a snap of his fingers, the now-dead bodies of Jasmine and Marche were teleported to their respective team's side. One of the two vieras stepped forward and immediately placed a red-orange feather on Jamie. The feather disappeared into Jamie's body with a glow, causing the Archer to get up groggily. The viera then started to cast a Cure on her, revealing her to be a White Mage.

With a quick "Resume!" from the judge, Jordan then shouted, "Jackie!"

The viera that wasn't a White Mage from the opposing side approached the platform. Like Jasmine, she too, was an archer.

"Kupo, my turn!" Montblanc said as he joined Jackie on the platform.

"Oh great, my opponent is the midget moogle?" Jackie scoffed. "This blows!"

"Language, sister," the White Mage off to the side warned.

"Eh, whatever," Jackie replied to her sister's chastisement.

"Thunder!"

A bolt of lightning smashed into the spot where Jacquelyn had just been standing.

"You cheating little...!" Jackie growled.

"Thunder!"

Another bolt of lightning soared at Jackie, but she sidestepped it and fired an arrow.

"Fire!"

A blast of hot fire hit the arrow, causing it to disintegrate into small pieces.

Jackie fired another arrow, and Montblanc opted to dodge the missile, as it was always best to save your MP when you could.

"Blizzard!" A chunk of ice formed in the air over Jackie, causing her to look up.

"Shit!" the viera cursed as she leapt to the side.

She got up quickly and fired two more arrows in quick succession.

Montblanc had no choice but to expend more of his magical power to avoid being hit. "Fire!"

The moogle was starting to breath harder, and Jackie's face was wet with sweat. The fire, although not aimed at her directly, was still aimed in her general direction, which caused the sweat in the first place.

'_I have enough energy to fire a few more spells,_' Montblanc thought to himself. '_I think four might be the exact number._'

Taking in a deep breath, as this was going to take _all _of his energy to accomplish, Montblanc then started to build up his magical power.

Jackie, taking advantage of Montblanc's pause, fired an arrow at him, but the moogle ignored the shot as it buried itself into his side. It hurt, but it wouldn't kill him.

"Fire!" A blast of fire was sent towards Jackie's right. It was obvious that it wasn't going to hit if she just stood still.

"Fire!" Another blast of fire was sent towards the viera, although this time it was aimed at her left. Like the first shot, it wouldn't touch her if she stayed still.

"That's some shitty aim you got there, moogle!" she called out.

"Blizzard!" A chunk of ice appeared above Jacquelyn's head, and this one was one she had to dodge. To do so, she dived backwards.

And finally, Montblanc shouted, "Thunder!" A bolt of lightning was aimed straight at the piece of ice. The lightning smashed into it, breaking the ice into thousands of small pieces, and continued onwards, right into Jackie.

"AHHHHHHHH!" the viera screamed as she was electrocuted by lightning and pierced by various chunks of ice. She fell to the ground, bloodied, electrocuted, and dead.

Jordan's eyes widened, along with everyone there (not counting the judge, as it wasn't possible to see his eyes).

Then Jordan let out a whistle. "Impressive, Montblanc. You sent two shots of fire at her, so she would have nowhere to move except forwards, backwards, or into the air, and followed it with a Blizzard that would eliminate the escape route into the air. And after that, a Thunder that would hit the ice, break it into pieces, _and _hit her. Absolutely brilliant," the Soldier commented.

Montblanc had enough energy to grin before falling down on the ground, unconscious from all the effort put into his spells.

The judge blew his whistle again, and both the unconscious moogle and the electrocuted viera were teleported to their side.

The White Mage again stepped forward and placed a phoenix down on her sister, causing the Archer to suddenly get up in surprise. "I...lost?"

"Yes, sister."

"Damn it!" Jackie cried in frustration as she slammed her fist into the ground. The thing only this action served to do was cause her to flinch in pain.

"You're not fully healed yet, so don't make any sudden moves, Jacquelyn."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever Jos."

"My name is Jocelyn, not _Jos_," the White Mage informed her sister loftily.

"And I'm Jackie, _not _Jacquelyn," her twin replied just as loftily before moving off to sit with the recently-revived Jamie, refusing to have her twin sister Jocelyn help her with a Cure.

"My turn," Jordan suddenly announced to the two still-breathing boys, after the twin vieras were done arguing.

Vaan and Ramza shared a look before Ramza stepped up to the platform.

"You guys are really good for a group that hasn't yet formed a clan," Ramza commented.

"Normal clan-wanna-be's usually train for a month maximum before they register their clan. We've been training for a year," Jordan retorted.

"Why?"

"The more time we spend training, the more surprised the experienced clans will be when we kick their butts in a real match."

Ramza nodded his head in understanding. He understood what she meant, but he didn't think that he nor his three friends would ever do that, as some people were just too impatient to wait a year.

He pulled the Shortsword from the strap on his back and held it in front of him loosely.

Jordan mirrored his actions by doing the same with her Silver Sword.

The two stared each other down for a minute before they simultaneously rushed towards each other.

_Clang!_

The reverberating sound of the two swords hitting each other rang through the still-empty arena. The two were in a deadlock, staring at each other in the eyes.

"Not bad kid," Jackie whispered to Ramza.

The closeness of their faces caused the poor boy to blush a stunning red.

The two broke their deadlock and backed off, before running into each other again. Jordan struck high, so Ramza ducked and aimed low. She jumped over the swipe, and brought her sword down in an overhead slash, but Ramza rolled to the side and kicked out with his foot. It smacked her knee, hard. She cried out as she lost her balance and stumbled. Ramza took advantage of her distraction to slash at her arm with his Shortsword, but she managed to just place her Silversword between his sword and her arm. The blow was harder than she expected, however, so her blade bounced off Ramza's, leaving her wide open for a follow-up attack.

When no follow-up attack came, she looked at Ramza with questioning eyes. "Why didn't you attack me? I was wide open!"

Ramza shrugged. "You're a girl," he mumbled.

"What?!" Jordan nearly shouted. She was mad. That was insulting! He wouldn't hit her because she was a girl?

"It's just not right, hitting a girl," he mumbled again.

"Oh that's it, you're going down!"

Jordan dashed towards Ramza, sword ready to strike. Ramza stood his ground, looking defiantly at the older girl.

"Speedbreak!" Jordan yelled. Her Silver Sword glowed brightly, forcing Ramza to avert his eyes. When the light finally subsided, Ramza found no wounds on him, yet he could feel something off.

Turning around, he faced off with Jordan again, but she wouldn't lift up her sword properly.

"It's over for you," she commented. "Before, on terms of speed, we might've been about the same, but with a Speedbreak, you're a lot slower than I am now."

And as if to prove her point, she swung her blade at him. He tried to block, but he couldn't move his sword fast enough. This resulted in a deep gash across his chest.

He looked down at his arms in annoyance before lifting his sword above his head and shouting, "First Aid!" The gash closed a little, but it still was oozing blood. He tried to do it again, but Jordan wouldn't allow him to.

"Hah!" Her blade was at neck height, so Ramza could do nothing but try to duck. Still under the effects of the Speedbreak, he just barely ducked in time, as evidenced by the loss of several strands of hair.

"Wow, to think you can still move after getting hit with a Speedbreak," Jordan complimented.

Ramza did not reply verbally. Instead, he chose to try to attack. Again, all he managed to accomplish was a cut on his own arm for his efforts. He scowled at his inability to hurt her, both due to his morals and his disability.

He opted for a different strategy. Backing away from her, he stood as far away from her as possible. His plan was to let the Speedbreak wear off, and surprise her as soon as he was back to normal. But alas, Jordan wouldn't fall for such a simple plan.

She immediately closed the distance between the two with several large steps and slashed diagonally with her sword. Ramza, not managing to duck in time, received a giant gash running diagonally across his body.

He gasped and dropped to the floor on his knees, holding the bleeding wound.

Finally, Jordan decided to end it. A horizontal strike was aimed at Ramza's neck height.

_Whoosh!_

Ramza, having regained his speed at the last moment, dropped even lower to the ground, avoiding the slash. He picked up his fallen Shortsword and stabbed forward blindly.

A sudden gasp made him look up, and all he saw was Jordan's impaled body as she fell on top of him.

"Winner: Montblanc and company! Since this was a friendly match, no looting is allowed!" The judge clapped his hands together, and everyone present was bathed in a white light. When the white light died down, all the wounds, blood, and damaged clothing were repaired. The judge immediately walked off following the healing.

Three sets of eyes blinked simultaneously before getting up.

"We won!" Vaan cried out to his companions as Montblanc and Marche blinked away their drowsiness.

Ramza ignored this and instead went over to the other side. He stood in front of the kneeling Jordan and offered his hand.

She took it, and he pulled her to his feet. "Nice match," he said in a show of good sportsmanship.

"You too, kid. You too," she replied, before she leaned in and kissed Ramza on the cheek. The poor Soldier was blushing an intense shade of red. Giggling, Jordan returned to her teammates and shouted, "Let's go! If we lost to a newbie clan like these guys, we're in some deep trouble!"

The four friends watched the group of girls depart, until Vaan spoke up.

"Hey! I got a name for our clan!"

"Yeah?" Marche asked.

"Yeah! Clan Outlander! 'Cause, you know, outlander means foreigners or outsiders, and the three of us," motioning towards himself, Marche, and Ramza, "are foreigners and outsiders to this world!"

"That's not a bad name, kupo," Montblanc commented.

"Eh, I guess it's ok," Ramza mused.

"Clan Outlander it is," Marche agreed.

As the quartet returned to Montblanc's home, Vaan suddenly asked, "So can we go register ourselves now?"

-

**BIOS**

Clan Outlander  
Ramza (human Soldier): 15, blond, aristocrastic, cultured, noble  
Vaan (human Thief): 15, white-haired, funny, likes to whine, childish  
Marche (human Archer): 15, blond, sometimes serious, sometimes relaxed  
Montblanc (moogle Black Mage): optimistic, happy, indeterminable age

Clan Femme Fatale  
Jordan (human Soldier): 18, tall, long blond hair, piercing blue eyes, uses a Silver Sword  
Jamie (human Thief): 14, slender, tanned, sharp blue eyes, Josiah's younger sister, dedicated to Jordan  
Jasmine (human Archer): 16, average height, black hair in a ponytail, funny, likes to joke around  
Jocelyn (viera White Mage): twin to Jacquelyn, brown-skinned, peaceful, optimistic, happy, indeterminable age, likes Jocelyn and not Jos  
Jacquelyn (viera Archer): twin to Jocelyn, brown-skinned, violent, curses a lot, gets reprimanded by Jocelyn quite often, indeterminable age, likes Jackie and not Jacquelyn

-

List of all the places in FF Tactics Advance:

Cyril: Busy town. The monster bank is on its outskirts.  
Sphrom: Bangaa mountain town. Home to the prison.  
Bervenia Palace: Capital of Ivalice.  
Muscadet: Mainly viera town hidden deep in the woods.  
Cadoan: Nu mou town. The seat of knowledge and alchemy.  
Baguba Port: Moogle town with a large mercantile airship port.  
Nubswood: Deep, dark forest. Popular hideout for thieves.  
Giza Plains: Rolling grassy plains. Muscmaloi grows here.  
Kudik Peaks: Towering peaks. Home to an endangered tiger.  
Uladon Bog: Depp and dangerous bogland dotted with islands.  
Jeraw Sands: Hot sands blow in this largest desert in Ivalce  
Lutia Pass: Much-traveled pass, with the occasional roadshop.  
Koringwood: Refreshing wood filled with ambient pure magic.  
Ulei River: Largest River in Ivalice. Winds through swamplands.  
Aisenfield: Plains where the thirteen knights of legend fought.  
Roda Volcano: Volcano asleep for 300 years. Recently active.  
Eluut Sands: Dangerous desert home to many fiends and treasure.  
Nargal Cave: A cool wind blows from inside this cave. An ancient city is said to sleep in its depths.  
Salikawood: The chirping of birds can always be heard here. An abandoned keep stands in the middle of the wood.  
Delia Dunes: Desert area famous for its barking sands. Said to be formed from a celestial beast's bones.  
Gotor Sands: Desert famous for its mirages and red chocobos.  
Ozmonfield: Gently rolling plains with occasional insect plagues.  
Deti Plains: Flatlands of yellow sand and red earth. Amber can often be found here among the rocks.  
Siena Gorge: Deep valley. A source of amber, like Deti Plains.  
Materiwood: Lush green forest famous for its materite ore.  
Tubola Cave: These caves were once mined for their mythril.  
Jagd Dorsa: Lawless jagd. A deserted town.  
Jagd Helje: Lawless jagd where ghostly voices are heard.  
Jagd Ahli: Lawless jagd destroyed by its own wild magic.  
Ambervale: Beautiful valley where rocks glow amber. The kings of Ivalice had a summer palace here.

-

A/N: In case you haven't realized, this will be very AU. Even though it takes place in FF Tactics Advance, lots of things will be modified, bent, or removed. I will be combining elements from all three games. Just a heads up.

Inspiration for this story came from Casualties by Icey the Fox, which is an unbelievably awesome FFTA story.

Note: ALL INFORMATION ON THE JOBS CAME FROM SOMEONE ELSE! None of it was my words. I edited some of it to fit the story, but it came from a guide on Gamefaq by DBM11085

I know, I know, I got a lotta other stories, but this just came as inspiration. I've been planning on this for a while, but never got to writing it until I started playing the actual game on GBA again. This and Band of Nine will be my two primary stories as of now.

This story is set before FFT: WotL and FFXII, and during FFTA.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Giza Plains

The day finally arrived where the four friends found themselves at the Clan Building. They were met by the old man, who greeted them with a nod of recognition.

"So you boys are back, huh? Here to register?"

Four enthusiastic nods were his answer.

"So, let's call in a judge."

The old man reached under the counter and pulled out a card. He threw it into the air and declared, "I declare an engagement!"

A judge appeared, and after swiveling his head to look at his surroundings, the judge walked off to a clearing behind the Clan Building.

"Well, go follow him," the old man told the boys.

They eagerly scampered off.

When they arrived at the clearing, the judge stated, "Clan testing, no laws, no looting. Begin."

The judge waved his hand and a Floateye appeared.

With a screech, the blue one-eyed monster flapped its giant wings and took to the skies.

Marche immediately fired two arrows consecutively at the Floateye.

Although the arrows were both dodged, it served its function as a distraction as Vaan leapt up into the air and slashed at its wings. The Floateye cried out, but it was not given any chance to back off and recover. Montblanc fired a Blizzard spell from behind, and the piece of ice smashed into the monster.

The Floateye was dead before it even hit the ground. The judge turned to Ramza, who had done nothing during the testing. "You haven't done anything," the judge pointlessly stated.

"Didn't need to. I knew they would take care of it," Ramza replied with a shrug,

The judge seemed to shrug back as if to say, "Alright fine whatever. I don't care, and I just want to go home, so let's finish this."

"Testing, concluded. Clan passes." The judge then disappeared.

Applause was heard, and all four heads turned to the source. "Very nice show, boys. Very nice show. Let's go in and register you four now," the old man complimented.

-

An hour later, the paperwork was finished and Clan Outlander was officially created. On their way out of the building, they were met by a group of familiar faces.

"Registered, eh?" Jordan asked the group.

"Yeah," Ramza replied. "And you're going to register now, I presume?"

"Yup. We figured that more training won't do us any good if we don't go out and meet other clans to battle," Jordan confirmed.

"Well, good luck with that, then."

The two groups exchanged their farewells before moving past each other.

"Hey, wait!"

Clan Outlander turned around.

"What's the name of your clan?" Jordan asked.

"We are the Outlanders. And what are you going to be?" Marche asked.

"Femme Fatales, of course," she replied with a grin.

And with that, the Femme Fatales turned back around and headed to the clearing.

-

The Outlanders were gathered around the local pub, where they were discussing what to do next.

"We should be looking for people who can return us to our world!" Ramza argued.

"No way! I want to go out and go on adventures and stuff! Returning home can come later!" Vaan protested.

"What do you think, Marche? You've been pretty silent so far, kupo," Montblanc said.

"I think...that this world is a world that is very fun to be in. It's something I've always dreamed about. But now that I'm actually here, I'm starting to miss my own home," Marche said thoughtfully.

"So what are you saying?" Ramza asked.

"I'm saying, we should continue with our lives here, but be on the lookout for clues to return home. We don't need to actively search; just wait for clues to come to us."

"Fine," Ramza grumbled. "So what now?"

"Get a mission, of course!" Vaan shouted gleefully.

"Alright, I'll go do it, kupo," Montblanc volunteered.

Five minutes later, the moogle came back with a grin on his face. "Got one, kupo. We are to head to Giza Plains and get rid of the bug infestation there before the bugs can reach town. The plains are a three day travel, so we should get going quickly."

They were out of Cyril and on the path right away. "Hey Montblanc?" Vaan asked. "Do we have to use engagement cards to deal with the bugs?"

"Yes! You must always use engagement cards, kupo! Otherwise, you might get seriously hurt, kupo!"

"So how are we supposed to kill the bugs permanently if the judge will just heal them after we finish killing them?"

"Well, kupo, I guess the clan book didn't tell you, but the judges can choose who to heal and who not to heal. That's how they apprehend criminals or stop attacking monsters, kupo."

"Oh..."

-

The next three days passed quickly. The Outlanders got into a minor skirmish with another clan, but the clan was easily defeated. Montblanc managed to loot himself a Wizard Hat, while the other three just took some potions off the other clan's hands.

They arrived in Giza Plains in the middle of the third day, where the sun was shining brightly. It would've been considered a beautiful day if not for the numerous Antlions and Jawbreakers scattered around the plain.

As they looked upon the bug infestation, Vaan commented cheekily, "That's a lotta bugs!"

Marche and Ramza rolled their eyes, but they agreed nonetheless.

"So, shall we just run down their and declare an engagement?"

"Yeah!" Vaan shouted his agreement. Unfortunately, his shout attracted the attention of a few of the bugs. The red and blue bugs quickly approached, and as soon as they were withing a respectable distance, Montblanc pulled out a card and declared an engagement.

The judge, upon seeing the bug infestation, declared, "An engagement has been declared. Laws for this match: none. Begin!"

Marche asked Montblanc, "Why aren't there any laws?"

"They're monsters, kupo. I don't think they'd care if they were given a yellow or red card," Montblanc deadpanned. "It's not like red cards affect them anyway, kupo. Something to do with the card's magic and the monsters' inherent abilities, kupo."

Their talk was interrupted by a blue Antlion. Its jaws clicked loudly as it attempted to bite Marche, but the Archer was smart enough to leap back. He fired an arrow into the monster's mouth, but it all it did was annoy the creature.

Quickly backing up, Marche continued to fire his arrows until the Antlion fell. In all, it took eight arrows to fell the creature. Scanning the battlefield, he saw that Montblanc was carefully firing Thunder spells into areas where they would affect more than one enemy, as it would save his magic and do more damage. Vaan was nimbly dancing around a Jawbreaker, giving it a few cuts here and there. Ramza was using his Shortsword to hack away at three Jawbreakers and two Antlions at the same time.

"Boost!" An arrow was fired with great power at a Jawbreaker approaching Ramza's back, and the arrow pierced the red bug's head, killing it immediately.

A cry of "First Aid!" was heard, and Ramza healed a few gashes.

"Boost!" Another arrow found its way into an Antlion, but rather than hitting the head, it buried itself into the bug's abdomen, wounding and angering it at the same time. It turned around to face Marche, but a stab of Vaan's Jack Knife to the head quickly killed it.

Two more Jawbreakers took its dead comrade's place.

"Whoa!" Vaan shouted as he ducked backwards to avoid the snap of the bug's massive jaws.

Using his feet, pushed away from the bugs while Marche fired two more arrows at the bugs. They hit nonvital areas.

Just as the two bugs were going to charge Vaan and Marche, a guts-covered Ramza appeared with a nasty grimace on his face. Being covered in the guts of a lot of bugs would do that to you.

Ramza swung his blade down at the first Jawbreaker's neck, decapitating it cleanly. Or...not so cleanly, as he was hit with a splatter of goo.

Scowling deeply, he turned to the second one and proceeded to chop it to little pieces. It seemed that he was taking his anger out on the poor Jawbreaker.

Ramza's angry blows stopped when a whistle blew. Looking at the judge, he heard the judge say, "The battle is over. Clan Outlander is victorious." A clap of his hands, and the Outlanders were healed and free from all nasty bug goo.

Montblanc hurried over to the smoldering corpses of the bugs and quickly busted them open, looking inside of them for anything he could salvage. "C'mon, kupo! Come help!"

In the end, all they found was some gil. It wasn't a lot but it was enough.

-

Another three days passed, and Clan Outlander arrived back at the pub. Montblanc approached the bartender while the other three sat down at a table. Drinks were ordered and the three boys relaxed for a quick moment.

Montblanc came back quickly with a sack of gil and a sword in his hand. A Silver Sword.

"We got a Silver Sword and 2400 gil for the mission, kupo!" Montblanc cheered as he handed the sword to Ramza.

Ramza stared at his new sword for a few seconds before looking back up at Montblanc. "Wow. This is awesome. But I think I'm going to stick with my Shortsword until I master the technique. First Aid is a pretty useful technique to master."

His friends nodded in acceptance.

"That doesn't mean that I'm not going to keep this though," Ramza warned.

"Yeah, yeah," Vaan waved off the warning. "So Montblanc, got us another mission?"

"Nope, sorry, kupo. There _are_ some, but I think they're a bit out of our league at the moment."

"...Does this mean we're back off to training?" Marche spoke up.

"Yup, kupo!"

The three boys sighed.

"I wonder what Jordan and her clan are doing," Vaan wondered as the Outlanders left the pub.

-

As the four headed to the training ground, Montblanc suddenly stopped and let out a small, "Oh!"

Ramza, Marche, and Vaan turned to face him.

"I forgot! I gotta go head to the store to get a little something, kupo," the moogle informed his clanmates. "I'll meet you three at the clearing in about half an hour, okay, kupo?"

The boys nodded and headed off, while Montblanc turned around and headed back towards the town.

It wasn't long before Montblanc arrived at the Ramsen Armory, where a cheerful young woman greeted him. "Hi Montblanc, how's it going?"

"Hey, Delia!" Montblanc responded with a smile. "I'm here to get something that teaches Time Magic!"

"Well since you're also a Black Mage, how about a Firewheel Rod? Or a Sleet Rod? They're beginner weapons for Time Mages, but they also teach a stronger version of Fire and Blizzard!"

"Really, kupo? That's amazing!"

"I know! And since you're such a good friend, I'll give one of them to you for a discount."

"Wow, that's really nice of you, kupo!"

"Yeah, but it's still pretty expensive," Delia warned the moogle.

"How expensive?" Montblanc asked. "'Cause I only got 1500 gil to spend, kupo. The rest of the money is what my clan earned, and I don't want to spend all of our money on one item for just me, kupo."

"Lucky you then, 'cause it's 1320 gil for either one of them!"

"Kupo!"

"Yeah, so which one do you want?"

"How about the Firewheel Rod, kupo?"

"Alright then. Here you go! One Firewheel Rod for 1320 gil. Thanks for the business. Come again!"

"You bet, kupo," Montblanc said as he thanked her profusely.

-

When Montblanc arrived back at what the Outlanders dubbed "_their _clearing", he found the three boys sparring against each other.

Ramza swung his sword at Vaan, who ducked under the swipe and leapt sideways into Marche, pushing the Archer off balance. Just as Vaan was about to strike Marche in the throat to denote that he was "dead", Ramza appeared and instead blocked the Jack Knife.

Marche rolled away with his Longbow in hand and jumped back, arrow already strung. The arrow flew straight at Ramza, but the Soldier knocked it out of the air with the flat side of his blade. Unfortunately, this little distraction cost him as Vaan managed to approach the Soldier and nick him along the ribs. It was a minor blow, but a blow nonetheless.

"Ha! You're dead Ramza!" Vaan cheered.

Ramza sniffed in disdain before moving off to the side.

Now it was just Vaan and Marche. Marche, having the long range advantage took two steps backwards while firing as many arrows as he could at Vaan.

Vaan, being a Thief, was nimble and could easily dodge the majority of them. One or two would skim right over him, leaving small traces of blood on the part that was hit.

Ignoring the minor amounts of pain, Vaan continued to dodge while moving forward, until the gap between the two was large enough to be closed with a simple leap.

And that's what Vaan did. He leapt into the air, and Marche followed with his bow and arrows. Vaan continued to show his agility by twisting his body while in midair to avoid the missiles. The moment he landed a foot away from Marche, Vaan swung his Jack Knife at Marche's throat, but stopped right as it was about to pierce his jugular.

"You're dead Marche!" Vaan cried again. "Ha! I win!"

The two losers sighed while Vaan did a little victory dance.

Montblanc decided that now was a good time to reveal his presence. "Hey guys, I see you've been sparring, kupo."

"You bet! And I kicked their butts!" Vaan shouted gleefully, still doing his dance. He was like a little boy on a sugar spree.

Marche sighed at Vaan's childishness before asking Montblanc, "So, you get what you wanted?"

"Yeah, kupo!" The moogle pulled out his new weapon and proudly displayed it to his clanmates. "And you guys don't have to worry, I didn't use any of our clan's money! I used my own gil, kupo."

"We don't really mind if you used the clan money, Montblanc," Ramza pointed out. "You're the one who has basically introduced us to this world, so we would be eternally grateful to you."

"Yeah," Marche agreed.

Vaan was still in his victory-induced dream world.

"Thanks guys, but I still wouldn't feel comfortable doing it..." the moogle trailed off. "Anyway, my Firewheel Rod can teach me Fira for the Black Mage job or Haste for the Time Mage job!"

"Time Mage?" Marche asked.

"Yeah, I just decided that now was a good time to learn some new things! Once we start facing stronger enemies, my three basic spells won't be as effective, kupo!"

"So can you show us?" Vaan asked, finally back to normal.

"Yeah, just give a moment to find out about the new spells, kupo."

-

The boys continued to spar lightly while Montblanc slipped into a meditative trance.

Opening his eyes, it was apparent he was no longer in the clearing with his friends, but in the world of the weapon. The name of the two spells he could learn suddenly appeared. To his left, he saw the word Fira. Under it was a scene where he himself was shooting out a large blast of fire at a Panther.

Turning to his right, the word Haste was displayed, followed by a scene where he was using it on his clanmates.

Montblanc nodded his acceptance, and suddenly he was back in the clearing. Blinking twice, Montblanc suddenly got an influx of information, and he groaned aloud.

The three boys looked over to see Montblanc back to reality, although the moogle was doubled over, holding a hand to his head.

"You okay?" Marche asked with concern.

"Yeah, kupo. Learning two spells at once is killer on you, kupo."

Getting up, the brave moogle pointed his Firewheel Rod into the air and a burst of a blackish-colored magic could be seen forming on the tip of the weapon. The three boys watched in wonder as Montblanc announced loudly, "Fira!"

The black magic turned into flames as it left the rod into the air. As the flames died down, Montblanc grinned at his friends. "Nice, hm, kupo?"

"Definitely!" Vaan cheered.

"Now, here's my other one!" Pointing his rod at Ramza, the slowest in terms of speed of the bunch, he started to focus his magic. This time, a greenish-colored magic started to form on the tip. "Haste!" the moogle shouted, and the green magic shot straight at the Soldier.

Blinking in surprise, Ramza was shocked as he felt the effects of the magic take place. As a Soldier, wearing heavy armor was a must, as Soldier tended to fight short range with enemies. Due to this, Soldiers were considered among the slowest in a clan. However, Montblanc's magic made him feel...light!

He was a lot faster now! He started to take a jog around the clearing, when Montblanc suggested to Marche that he shoot a few arrows at the Soldier.

Marche acquiesced and fired a single arrow at his friend.

As the arrow approached Ramza, the Soldier easily stepped to the side avoiding a shot that would normally give him difficulty.

"Whoa! What is this?" the Soldier wondered.

"Haste! It's my Time Magic spell. It makes the target a lot faster. You'd feel lighter, and everything would be in slow-motion. Unfortunately, it takes up a lot of time to use, and it needs lots of power. I can probably only use it once per match, unless we get some ethers, or until I get stronger."

"Cool!" Vaan said.

"What about your Fira spell? How much magic does it take compared to Haste? And the other three spells?" Marche asked.

"Well, I think Fira takes up a little less power than Haste. And Fire, Thunder, and Blizzard probably take up around a third to a half of the power that Fira and Haste need, kupo."

"Wow, that's some strong magic," Marche commented.

"Yup," the moogle agreed.

"So you guys ready to retire for tonight?"

The three boys looked at each other and shrugged. "Sure."

When they got back to Montblanc's place, the three guests immediately stuck their hands out for a game of Rock Paper Scissors.

"Winner gets bed," Vaan announced.

Again, using his faster reaction time and cheating skills, Vaan copied what Ramza put out, which was a scissor. Marche had a rock.

Marche groaned.

-

A/N: This is a pretty short chapter. For the next few chapters (maybe), they'll each be focused on a mission, and some time that the clan won't be on a mission, like training or something. And the bios are for chapter 1 only, so you get to know my characters a little more intimately. I might do it again when I add more characters to the Outlanders (which will definitely happen sometime), or introduce another clan that'll have a big part in the story.

PS. And yes I know that you need to know 5 black mage spells before learning time magic, but eh...whatever.

-

List of all the places in FF Tactics Advance:

Cyril: Busy town. The monster bank is on its outskirts. Ramsen Armory, The Prancing Chocobo.  
Sphrom: Bangaa mountain town. Home to the prison.  
Bervenia Palace: Capital of Ivalice.  
Muscadet: Mainly viera town hidden deep in the woods.  
Cadoan: Nu mou town. The seat of knowledge and alchemy.  
Baguba Port: Moogle town with a large mercantile airship port.  
Nubswood: Deep, dark forest. Popular hideout for thieves.  
Giza Plains: Rolling grassy plains. Muscmaloi grows here.  
Kudik Peaks: Towering peaks. Home to an endangered tiger.  
Uladon Bog: Deep and dangerous bogland dotted with islands.  
Jeraw Sands: Hot sands blow in this largest desert in Ivalce  
Lutia Pass: Much-traveled pass, with the occasional roadshop.  
Koringwood: Refreshing wood filled with ambient pure magic.  
Ulei River: Largest River in Ivalice. Winds through swamplands.  
Aisenfield: Plains where the thirteen knights of legend fought.  
Roda Volcano: Volcano asleep for 300 years. Recently active.  
Eluut Sands: Dangerous desert home to many fiends and treasure.  
Nargal Cave: A cool wind blows from inside this cave. An ancient city is said to sleep in its depths.  
Salikawood: The chirping of birds can always be heard here. An abandoned keep stands in the middle of the wood.  
Delia Dunes: Desert area famous for its barking sands. Said to be formed from a celestial beast's bones.  
Gotor Sands: Desert famous for its mirages and red chocobos.  
Ozmonfield: Gently rolling plains with occasional insect plagues.  
Deti Plains: Flatlands of yellow sand and red earth. Amber can often be found here among the rocks.  
Siena Gorge: Deep valley. A source of amber, like Deti Plains.  
Materiwood: Lush green forest famous for its materite ore.  
Tubola Cave: These caves were once mined for their mythril.  
Jagd Dorsa: Lawless jagd. A deserted town.  
Jagd Helje: Lawless jagd where ghostly voices are heard.  
Jagd Ahli: Lawless jagd destroyed by its own wild magic.  
Ambervale: Beautiful valley where rocks glow amber. The kings of Ivalice had a summer palace here.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Desert Peril

The Outlanders were once again at the pub.

This time, Marche volunteered to find a mission.

"What can I do for you, eh lad?" the bartender asked.

"Got any missions?"

"Yeah, I got lots of 'em. Anything specific you lookin' for?"

"How about any missions that a beginner clan can handle?"

"Hmmm...How about this mission for a criminal? Black Mage Dolce is wanted for dangerous magic use, among some other minor infractions."

"Dangerous magic use? I don't think we can handle that...anything else?"

"Well, there's been a rash of attacks by crazed monsters in the Eluut Sands area recently. The guy who posted the mission wants you to eliminate the threats."

"I'll take that one, thanks."

Walking back to his clanmates, Marche informed them of their new mission for today.

As they left the city of Cyril, Montblanc wondered, "I wonder what's making them crazy, kupo."

"You mean this doesn't happen often?" Ramza asked.

"No, not at all, kupo. Monsters are usually calm, unless they're attacked first! It's only been recently that these reports of crazed monsters have surfaced, kupo. I wonder what's causing this strange phenomenon?"

Ramza shrugged. "I guess we'll just find out when we get to Eluut."

-

Like the mission at Giza Plains, the march to Eluut Sands took three days, although they had to travel east, not south.

The march there was pretty uneventful. Each time they stopped to set up camp, they would first train their skills before sitting down to eat their dinner. It wasn't long until they arrived at the desert.

Searching for the monsters that were causing the attacks, though, was a different matter. They were too well hidden!

"So...How are we going to find them?" Vaan spoke up.

"Look for any signs that the monsters have been around here, kupo. You might find the bones of some unfortunate travelers, or maybe even the remains of their clothes."

"What?!" Marche asked, disgusted at the notion.

"Well, yeah, I know you may not be used to this idea, but here in this world, sometimes people die because they don't have engagement cards, or they end up in jagds, kupo."

"Jagds?"

"Yeah! Lawless places where judges cannot enter. It's horrible," Montblanc said, shuddering. "You should hope to never enter such a place."

A scream suddenly pierced the air, and all four Outlanders jumped at the sound.

Running ahead, Vaan spotted a group of creatures attacking a caravan. Calling back, he shouted, "There's some kind of jello thingy, a bug like the ones we fought yesterday, and three panthers!

The other three caught up to Vaan, and when Montblanc saw them, he correctly named the monsters present. "That flan is a Cream, that's an Antlion, and it's two Red Panthers and one Coeurl."

"Whatever. Now let's go! We gotta go help them!" Vaan shouted.

Charging ahead, Vaan delivered a battle cry. It wasn't a brilliant idea, but...whatever,

Montblanc sighed, before following Vaan with Ramza and Marche. As the moogle ran, he threw a card into the air. "I declare an engagement!"

A judge appeared then, and if the minds of any of the Outlanders wasn't focused on the battle, they would have wondered about how the judge could possibly survive in a desert wearing a full suit of armor.

"An engagement has been declared. Laws for this match: none. Battle begin!"

"Leave the Cream to me! Physical attacks don't do anything to it, kupo!" Montblanc shouted to his friends as he charged up magic for a Fire spell.

The other three, nodding at Montblanc's shout, branched off to fight different enemies.

"Boost!" Marche fired a powerful arrow at the Antlion. The bug managed to avoid getting hit in a vital spot, but the arrow still sunk into its armor. Shrieking, the creature turned its head away from the merchant it was terrorizing and charged at the Archer.

The bug was surprisingly fast, so Marche had no time to use another Boost. Instead, he opted to fire regular arrows at the attacking Antlion. Some pierced its armor, while some glanced off and fell off to the side. With another shriek, the Antlion was in attacking range of Marche. It snapped its powerful jaws at the boy, almost bisecting him. Using his bow as a blunt weapon, Marche smashed it into the bug's head, giving it major headache and damaging his Longbow. It would still work, but it would no longer allow its user to use the bow to its full potential.

Marche jumped back several times to create some distance between him and his target, before shouting again, "Boost!"

Due to the bow being damaged, the attack was on par with a regular attack from an unblemished bow. The bug, still dizzy from Marche's bow smashing into its head, did not dodge the weaker Boost attack and was struck in the head, killing it.

As soon as the adrenaline from fighting the Antlion wore off, Marche suddenly felt a weird sensation. Searching his mind, he realized it was because he finally mastered the Boost attack. It was a good thing too, because the bow would have to be replaced soon.

He was interrupted from his musings from a roar from a charging Red Panther. Turning to the incoming feline, he was scared for a moment since he did not believe that his weapon could last long enough to defeat this monster. Luckily, or unluckily for the panther, a bolt of lightning smashed into the creature, sending it skidding along the ground, fried to a crisp.

Marche looked back to find Montblanc with his new Firewheel Rod aimed at where the creature had just been. The yellow flan lay in a puddle behind him, obviously dead.

-

Ramza, who had been poisoned by the other Red Panther's Poison Claw, stumbled back, large claw marks across the front of his armor. It seemed that the panther's claws managed to bite through Ramza's armor and pierce his skin, inflicting him with poison. The panther approached Ramza with a triumphant gleam in its eye, but as soon as it was close enough to the Soldier, Ramza swung his Shortsword as best as he could in his poisoned state, managing to decapitate it.

Quickly raising his sword above his head, although it hurt him to do so, he shouted, "First Aid!"

The gash across his chest started to sizzle, before the wound stopped bleeding and managed to close. The poison was also flushed out of his system. It was times like these where he felt thankful for the technique. Suddenly, an influx of power seemed to flow through him. He questioned himself silently as to the reason for this surge, before he understood that it was due to him mastering the First Aid technique!

Grinning to himself at his success, he quickly looked around, scanning the area with his eyes for any remaining monsters. He spotted one: the blue Coeurl, which Vaan was fighting.

-

Charging ahead, Vaan had headed towards the blue panther, determined to take this one on by himself. The Coeurl growled at him menacingly for interrupting its meal, one of the merchants of the caravan.

Grimacing at the rag of cloth hanging from the beast's teeth, Vaan watched the Coeurl cautiously, waiting for it to make the first move.

The Coeurl obliged by roaring and taking a giant leap towards the Thief. With its powerful hind legs, it closed the distance between boy and beast quickly. It lifted up a paw and swatted at Vaan, who did not manage to react in time to the fast attack. He was sent sailing to the side, where he hit the sand and ended up rolling for several yards. Getting up with a groan, Vaan held the area where the Coeurl had scratched, which was bleeding slightly.

Ignoring the pain, he ducked under a paw and rolled forwards, right into the panther's guard. He swiped its chest twice before he had to back away from the panther's jaws.

Now they were even.

However, the Coeurl did not have a good grip on its emotions, evident by the angry roar it let loose. Taking another huge leap, the panther aimed to eviscerate Vaan.

The white-haired Thief had already experienced this once, and was not willing to do so again, so he moved quickly. He ran forward so that the monster would overjump, landing behind him. Spinning around, Vaan swiped at the creature's hind side before he was again swatted to the side, this time by the creature's tail.

Groaning once more, Vaan got to his feet shakily. Being a Thief meant that he was not exactly physically strong. Added to the fact that daggers did not do much when swiping a giant creature, Vaan was dismayed that he only had one thing to do: stab it in the heart. That, however, required getting _really _close to the Coeurl. Close enough, in fact, that he would be able to feel its breath on him.

And that was not a pleasant thought.

He could distinctly hear the sounds of battle stopping around him, proving to him that he still hadn't dealt with the monster he chose to face off with.

Determination filled him up again, and he took a deep breath.

The Coeurl continued to circle him like a predator.

A sudden leap by Vaan took the feline creature off guard, and in that moment, Vaan managed to stab his Jack Knife deeply into the Coeurl's chest. It grunted once, before falling over, apparently dead.

Vaan pulled his knife out and cheered.

"Winner: Clan Outlander!" The judge waved his hand, and all injuries were healed.

The rips in Ramza's undershirt were healed too, but the big hole in his cuirass didn't.

"Guess it means that I have to get a new one," he muttered to himself.

"You may start looting," the judge announced.

Marche quickly hurried to the Antlion he killed, and using an arrow that was impaled in the bug, he opened the bug up to find...a black bow. Pulling it out, he then tied his old Longbow to his back and held the black bow in his hand. He'd ask Montblanc later about what the weapon was called.

Ramza cut open his kill with his Shortsword, hoping to find a new piece of armor, but alas, his luck was not so good. Instead he found a red feather, which he knew was a phoenix down. He stored the item in his pack before pulling out the Silver Sword that they were given from the previous mission. Now that First Aid was mastered, it was time to learn a new skill. He put the Shortsword away.

Vaan used his Jack Knife to cut open the Coeurl. Inside was some gil, which he gladly removed from the beast's stomach. "How the heck did the gil even get into the thing's stomach?" he asked himself.

Montblanc, after finding nothing in the Cream and the Red Panther he killed, was approached by the merchants they saved.

"Thank you so much for helping," one man said.

"No problem, kupo!" Montblanc replied cheerfully.

"Here's a small gift for helping us. It's not much..." another offered.

Montblanc gratefully received the gil and weapon they gave him, before turning back to join his clan.

"Hey, kupo, the merchants gave us some gil and this Scramasax," the moogle told his friends. He handed the knife to Vaan, who took it with a smile on his face.

"Are we done with the mission then?" Marche asked.

"Yup! Let's head back, kupo."

"Alright! I can't wait until we get back so that I can try out my new knife!" Vaan cheered. "Oh wait, I still have to master Steal: Gil..."

"And I cannot wait to try my new bow, since I have mastered Boost. Speaking of which, Montblanc, do you know what this is called?" Marche questioned.

"Yeah, I think it's a Char Bow, kupo," Montblanc answered.

Ramza decided to speak up too. "You are not the only one to have mastered your technique. I have mastered First Aid, so I'm going to be using my Silver Sword now."

"Aw man, you guys mastered your moves already! No fair!" Vaan protested.

"It's because they use their moves in battle," Montblanc informed the Thief. "Your skill is only useful against those who carry gil _on _them, not _in _them, kupo."

Vaan groaned again. "I hope we fight some people who _do _have gil then," he said, wiping off some of the accumulating sweat on his eyebrow.

-

Ramza and Marche both sunk into the meditative state that comes with accessing new abilities.

Montblanc and Vaan watched on, waiting for the two to return to reality.

Taking the time to play with his Jack Knife, Vaan started to throw the knife around. Without a break in his little performance, Vaan took the knife and chucked it at the closest tree, sinking the blade of the knife several inches into the tree's bark.

The walk back to Cyril was a quick one, due to the excitement of two of the four members of trying out new abilities. They had hurried to the clearing as soon as they made it into Cyril.

"Come on, what's taking so long?" Vaan asked impatiently.

Marche immediately opened his eyes and fired an arrow. However, this arrow was not made of wood and metal. This arrow was made of some black substance.

"Ah!" Vaan shouted in surprise as the arrow hit him. He was blind! He couldn't see anything!

The Archer explained to his friend, "It's called Blackout. It takes away the target's sight for a few minutes."

"Make it stop! Make it stop!" Vaan howled.

Montblanc, pitying his friend, gave him an eyedrop. The item was applied to Vaan's eyes, and the darkness was suddenly lifted.

"Whew!" Vaan sighed. Turning to Marche, he shouted, "That was not funny!"

"Speedbreak!" a voice from behind shouted. Vaan tried to turn around, but he found that he was moving too slowly.

"Speedbreak," Ramza commented. "It reduces your speed drastically."

"Why do you two keep testing your moves on me?!" Vaan whined. "I'm going to get you back! I swear!"

The three laughed as Vaan comically tried to run at Ramza, but due to the Speedbreak, he was moving at a child's speed.

"Let's go get our reward for the mission now, kupo," Montblanc said.

"You guys mind if I head to the shop first? I need some new armor," Ramza stated, pointing to the gash in his Cuirass.

Montblanc gave him 1500 gil to use, which Ramza gratefully accepted before breaking off from his friends.

-

The three Outlanders stood in front of the bartender.

"So you stopped the crazed monsters already? I knew you guys could do it. Your reward is...hmmm...let me check. A Bronze Shield and this bag of gil."

"Thanks, kupo!" Montblanc said.

"Come back soon. I got some more missions for you guys to take!" the bartender replied.

The trio left with a wave to the bartender.

"So...now what?" Vaan asked.

"Let's take a day off, kupo!" Montblanc suggested.

"A day off?"

"Yeah, well, we've been training really hard recently, so I thought we should have a day to just relax, kupo."

"Alright then!" Vaan cheered. "A day off!"

"But first, we should probably go look for Ramza," Marche butted in.

-

After breaking away from his clanmates, Ramza headed to the Ramsen Armory, where he planned on getting new armor to replace his Cuirass.

The moment he opened the door, a loud jingling attracted his attention, and he looked up, seeing the bell hung above the door. The Armory was a clean place, if a bit dark, and it was crammed pack with weapons adorning every inch of the walls. He wandered in in awe, looking around curiously with big eyes.

"Hello! My name's Delia! How can I help you?" a voice called out from behind Ramza.

He spun around quickly, startled at the voice. What he saw was a young girl standing behind the counter. She had two elbows planted on the top and her face in her hands, while she leaned forward, giving her a look of cute innocence.

"Hi, My name's Ramza," the Soldier started awkwardly. "I'm, uh, here for some new armor. My current one got damaged real bad," he told her, pointing at the hole in the Cuirass.

"Ooh, that looks nasty! What job are you?"

"Soldier."

"Alright...follow me!" Delia came around the counter and started to walk off in a random direction, or so it seemed to Ramza. "Hmmm...nope. Not this. Nah. I don't think so...Maybe this? Nah," the girl continued to mutter to herself as she picked and replaced several pieces of armor.

Just as she picked up an expensive looking piece of armor, Ramza hastily said, "Sorry, but I don't have too much money. I just started a clan with three friends of mine."

"Ah. Well then," she said, walking over to a piece of armor left to the side. "How about this Bronze Armor?" She lifted up a large and brown piece of armor that looked to be in really bad shape. "It's not really one of our best items, but for a beginner it should do good against any weaker attacks, and it's really cheap too! It's just 600 gil!"

"Is there anything better?" Ramza asked, not too keen on wearing something that looked that nasty.

Scratching her head in a look of deep thought, Delia suddenly snapped her fingers. "I got it! I was going to see if there was anything else that was on the same level as the Bronze Armor, but I think an Iron Armor would suit you better."

"Iron?"

"Yeah! It's a stronger type of metal than bronze, so the armor will be more durable and can provide you with a better defense against anyone who tries to stab you or slash you. However, I should warn you that it _is _heavier, so it might take some time to get use to. I suggest wearing it for a week or so before joining any real battles. Oh, and the Iron Armor is 1200 gil."

Handing over the necessary gil, he took the Iron Armor from her and slipped it on after removing the damaged Cuirass.

"Hey, I'll buy that Cuirass off you!" Delia suggested to Ramza after he carelessly dropped it on the ground.

"Really? Why would you do that? It's not really useful after taking that much damage..." Ramza trailed off.

"Well, it could be easily fixed. And think of it this way. You are technically getting a discount on your Iron Armor for trading in something you don't need anymore!"

"If you put it that way, then can I trade in my Shortsword too?" Ramza asked, pulling out the weapon from his pack.

"Sure, but just so you know, since you can get the Cuirass and Shortsword free at any Clan Building, they're not really worth that much. The only people who would want to buy it would be people who want to start over with a new job."

Shrugging, Ramza just handed over his things to her, and she gave him 50 gil back.

"Thanks for the business!" Delia chirped at Ramza.

The Soldier smiled at her and thanked her for helping. With a small wave, he left the shop, ready to return to his friends.

-

Ramza headed towards their little clearing, where he was sure they would be. He was right, but he expected them to be doing some sort of training. He was wrong in that aspect, as the three boys were lounging about, waiting for Ramza's arrival.

"Hey guys," he greeted. "Why aren't you training?"

"We decided to take a break from training, but we had to come here first to tell you," Vaan informed him.

"Hey Ramza, you didn't buy a shield did you?" Montblanc asked.

Ramza slapped his hand to his head. He had planned on buying a shield at the shop but he forgot all about it!

Seeing Ramza's response, Montblanc said, "Don't worry, we got a Bronze Shield as a reward for the mission, kupo. Here. Nice armor by the way."

Ramza took the shield from the moogle and kept it in his left hand.

"You should see if it has any abilities, kupo," Montblanc said with a twinkle in his eyes.

As Ramza did as suggested, Marche asked Montblanc, "Wait, armor can have abilities too?"

"Yeah, kupo! That's how you get support and reaction abilities. You remember those, right, kupo? You learned about them in that book I showed you the day we met."

"Oh yeah."

"Shieldbearer," Ramza suddenly announced.

"What?"

"That's the name of my ability. Shieldbearer. It allows me to use a shield, regardless of my job," he informed his clanmates.

"Cool," Vaan said with a grin. "Now that we're all together again, let's go have some fun!"

-

List of all the places in FF Tactics Advance:

Cyril: Busy town. The monster bank is on its outskirts. Ramsen Armory, The Prancing Chocobo  
Sphrom: Bangaa mountain town. Home to the prison.  
Bervenia Palace: Capital of Ivalice.  
Muscadet: Mainly viera town hidden deep in the woods.  
Cadoan: Nu mou town. The seat of knowledge and alchemy.  
Baguba Port: Moogle town with a large mercantile airship port.  
Nubswood: Deep, dark forest. Popular hideout for thieves.  
Giza Plains: Rolling grassy plains. Muscmaloi grows here.  
Kudik Peaks: Towering peaks. Home to an endangered tiger.  
Uladon Bog: Deep and dangerous bogland dotted with islands.  
Jeraw Sands: Hot sands blow in this largest desert in Ivalce  
Lutia Pass: Much-traveled pass, with the occasional roadshop.  
Koringwood: Refreshing wood filled with ambient pure magic.  
Ulei River: Largest River in Ivalice. Winds through swamplands.  
Aisenfield: Plains where the thirteen knights of legend fought.  
Roda Volcano: Volcano asleep for 300 years. Recently active.  
Eluut Sands: Dangerous desert home to many fiends and treasure.  
Nargal Cave: A cool wind blows from inside this cave. An ancient city is said to sleep in its depths.  
Salikawood: The chirping of birds can always be heard here. An abandoned keep stands in the middle of the wood.  
Delia Dunes: Desert area famous for its barking sands. Said to be formed from a celestial beast's bones.  
Gotor Sands: Desert famous for its mirages and red chocobos.  
Ozmonfield: Gently rolling plains with occasional insect plagues.  
Deti Plains: Flatlands of yellow sand and red earth. Amber can often be found here among the rocks.  
Siena Gorge: Deep valley. A source of amber, like Deti Plains.  
Materiwood: Lush green forest famous for its materite ore.  
Tubola Cave: These caves were once mined for their mythril.  
Jagd Dorsa: Lawless jagd. A deserted town.  
Jagd Helje: Lawless jagd where ghostly voices are heard.  
Jagd Ahli: Lawless jagd destroyed by its own wild magic.  
Ambervale: Beautiful valley where rocks glow amber. The kings of Ivalice had a summer palace here.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

The first thing they did upon arrival back in the city was to head to the local hot springs. As any girl would acknowledge, the cleansing feeling of a hot spring was always good for a stress reliever. It didn't hurt that it also soothed their muscles.

The four paid the attendant the necessary fee to use the hot spring and quickly jumped in. After removing their armor, of course.

They sat around and just relaxed, as they had planned on doing, for quite some time before voices from the female side of the hot spring attracted their attention.

"Woohoo! Cannonball!"

Following that proclamation, a loud splash was heard, along with the screams of several angry girls.

"Damn it! Jasmine! What was that for?!" one particular voice seemed to rise higher than the screaming of the other girls.

"Oh relax. She's just having some fun," a second voice chimed in.

"That's no excuse to cannonball into a freaking hot spring and causing the hot water to splash us!"

A loud thud came after that retort, followed by a third voice's moan of pain. "Owwwww! You big meanie! You didn't have to hit me, ya know?"

"That's what you get for doing stupid things, Jasmine!" the first voice replied.

Deciding to alert them to their presence (separated by a large fence to prevent any peeking incidents, of course), Vaan called out, "Hey is that you and your clan, Jordan?"

The bickering from the other side stopped.

Two heads appeared over the top of the fence. It was Jocelyn and Jackie, the twin viera sisters. "Hey, it's those idiot Outlanders!" one head called back down to her side of the fence.

"Don't be so rude, Jacquelyn," the second twin chastised. Turning back towards the boys, she greeted them with a smile, "Hey boys."

"Hey Jocelyn," they replied slowly, sinking down into the water until only their heads remained above the water.

"What you hidin' for, boys?" Jackie asked lecherously.

Jocelyn giggled and covered her mouth with her hand. "Don't tease them like that, Jacquelyn."

Two more heads popped up above the fence.

"Hey boys," Jordan waved.

Jasmine, the Archer, echoed Jordan's movements.

"Fancy meeting you four here, eh?" Jordan asked with a smile on her face as she stared down at the boys, who were becoming increasingly red. "Maybe we should stop staring. They might die of embarrassment!" the blond Soldier called out.

"But I just got up here!" Jasmine whined.

Turning to face her clanmate, Jordan bopped a fist on Jasmine's head, causing the girl to fall down with a yelp and a crash.

"We'll let you get back to your bath, boys," Jordan said before disappearing back to her side.

The silence in the boys' side of the hot spring continued, despite the raucous laughing and shouting on the girls' side.

"...Wanna get out now?" Vaan asked.

Three heads nodded so quickly it looked like they were bobbleheads. The four dashed out of the hot spring and quickly got dressed.

The embarrassment from being seen by the girls was shared by all four, and they silently agreed to never bring it up again.

-

Night came quickly, along with a festival.

"What's this festival about?" Ramza shouted to Montblanc, as he wouldn't have been heard otherwise.

"What?!" Montblanc shouted back.

"What's this festival about?!"

"Celebrating, kupo!" Montblanc returned as loudly as he could.

It didn't help that Vaan was adding to the noise by cheering loudly about the festival, despite the fact that he too had no idea what this was about. But hey, who cared? A festival was a festival.

Entering a restaurant along the side of the street, the outside noises were cut off, replaced by the low murmuring of the patrons.

Gesturing four people at the waiter, Montblanc told his friends, "Every year, the people of Cyril have a competition, kupo. A swordsmanship competition. Any job that uses a sword can join the competition. You end up fighting several opponents one-on-one, and if you win, you get a really awesome prize, I heard, kupo. Of course, your opponents will be strong, so you might want to wait until next year, kupo," Montblanc directed his last sentence at Ramza.

The four sat down at a dimly lighted table near the back. The waiter handed them the menus and left, leaving the four to ponder on what they wanted to eat in silence.

"The people celebrate the beginning of the competition, and the end of the competition. As you know, this is the festival for the beginning."

Any more mention of the competition did not come up again during dinner, until they received their desserts.

"Where do I sign up?" Ramza asked.

Montblanc smirked. He knew Ramza would join anyway, if only for the experience. "There'll be an official at the Clan Building."

"Stop, thief!" A voice called out, and all four boys turned to look at the commotion. A man wearing a Magus Robe was seen dashing out the doors of the restaurant. "That was Black Mage Dolce!" the same voice yelled in despair.

The four boys looked at each other before dashing out after the man. All four had seen the wanted poster in the pub of Black Mage Dolce, a man who was wanted for dangerous magic use and several assorted misdemeanors. However, he was most famous for his habit of eating and running.

Due to the massive crowd, tracking Dolce and moving to catch up to him was very difficult.

"Montblanc, jump on my shoulder and see if you can spot him!" Ramza shouted down at the short (compared to a human) moogle. The boy, having worn heavy armor for quite some time, had built up his strength and endurance, so having a moogle on his shoulders was nothing to him.

"Kupo!" the moogle yelled as he leapt atop Ramza. "I see him, kupo!"

Vaan and Marche followed the Ramza, who was following Montblanc's directions.

"That way! No, this way! Here! Left! The alley!"

Eventually, the group chased Dolce all the way to the forests surrounding the village.

"Damn kids!" the older man muttered loudly. Turning around abruptly, he declared loudly, "I declare an engagement!"

The judge appeared and waved his arm, signaling the beginning of the match.

"Fira!"

A large blast of fire leapt out of the man's hands, right at the four boys, causing them to scatter.

"Ha! You kids are no match for me!"

Marche returned the man's taunt by firing an arrow, but the man jumped to the side.

Letting loose a fierce roar, Ramza hefted his Silver Sword and swung down at Dolce. Again, the experienced Black Mage sidestepped the attack and quickly followed it up by placing his palm on Ramza's exposed side.

"See ya, kid," he grinned. "Fira!"

Ramza was immediately engulfed in a sea of flames.

"One down, three more to go," Dolce crowed.

Marche stepped up his attacks and fired a string of arrows, some using Boost and some without. The agile Black Mage dodged most of the missiles and negligently cast a few Fire's on some of the arrows that were harder to avoid.

Behind Dolce, Montblanc prepared to fire his own spell. "Blizzard!"

The moogle's voice caught him off guard for a moment, causing Dolce to _just _avoid being impaled upon a giant chunk of ice.

Another voice spoke up. "Steal: Gil."

He turned his head towards the voice, and noticed that his money pouch was gone!

"Damn Thieves!" he cursed. That money was to be used for another delicious dinner!

Vaan jumped back with a grin on his face. "Success!"

However, the grin quickly disappeared from his face as Dolce threw his hand at Vaan and shouted, "Fira!"

Being a Thief meant that he was quite quick, but even then, the intensity of the attack gave Vaan trouble dodging. Rather, the burst of fire clipped him in the right arm, rendering him useless for any more pickpocketing.

The white-haired boy cursed loudly, something which did not happen very often.

Dolce, seeing that his attack was a success, prepared for another attack when he was reminded that he had two more opponents to worry about.

Montblanc had fired another Blizzard spell at Dolce, who was about to finish Vaan off. His ice spell had successfully stopped Dolce from attacking and forced him to move away. Suddenly, a thought struck Montblanc. '_How does he have so much stamina and MP? He's already used about three Fira's and three Fire's!_'

"I see you're wondering about how I still have so much stamina left in me, right ya moogle?" Dolce leered.

Montblanc, surprised at having his mind read (not literally), flinched, and Dolce laughed loudly.

"You guys are too easy to predict!"

"Oh yeah? Then predict this!" Marche shouted as he finally used his new move. "Blackout!"

A black arrow that seemed to be made of shadows formed in Marche's hand. Firing the arrow, the projectile flew true and slammed right into Dolce. Like it did to Vaan the previous day, the arrow sunk into Dolce's chest without a sound.

"Shit!" Dolce cursed. Of all the days for him to not have any eyedrops!

"Finish him off quickly!"

"Right, kupo. Thunder!" A bolt of lightning smashed into Dolce, eliciting a sharp scream from him.

"Engagement over," the judge declared. Waving his hand, Vaan's burnt hand was healed, while Ramza was brought back to life. Dolce was healed too, although just barely. He was healed enough so that he wouldn't die, but he was going to be in a lot of pain over the next few days.

"Capture of the criminal Dolce successful. Your reward," the judge continued. Handing over a large sack of gil, which they later found out was 4600 gil to be exact, the judge then disappeared with Dolce in tow.

"Cool." Vaan's voice drifted over to the two members of the clan that were unharmed during the engagement.

-

Having signed up for the Cyril Swordsmanship Competition the day after, Ramza then headed towards the training ground, where he planned on practicing and sparring as much as he could to get better. He only had a week to train for the competition, and he had already seen several stronger-looking competitors wandering the streets.

It didn't help the matter that he was defeated so quickly by Dolce. Even though Dolce was a mage, he still shoudn't have underestimated the man's power. It was that flaw that led to him being roasted within the first thirty seconds of the engagement,

Marche and Vaan both volunteered to spar with him, so that he could practice his moves on them. Even though practicing special abilities on people in a controlled environment seemed like a good idea, it actually did nothing in terms of mastering the ability, as there was no adrenaline nor any surprises. Despite this, Ramza reckoned that practicing his Speedbreak wouldn't hurt, as he may figure out the best way to utilize such a technique. He even asked Montblanc to fire spells at him randomly (although a bit underpowered), so that he could practice dodging while wearing heavy armor.

It wasn't long before the week was up.

-

The tournament was taking place in an arena. To be specific, it was the arena where Clan Outlander and Clan Femme Fetale first fought. The arena, which was a big but usually empty place, was packed with people today as they awaited the yearly competition. Vendors were everywhere, shouting out the names of their goods as they tried to coerce people into buying their wares. There were also several betting stations set up around the area as people came to bet on whichever competitor they thought would win.

Normally, the majority of the people would bet on the previous year's winner, but this year, the person had not signed up. Therefore, bets were scattered everywhere from "that tough Fighter dude" to "that hot viera chick".

As Ramza headed down to the waiting area for the contestants, Vaan, Marche, and Montblanc headed up into the stands to look for seats that would give them a good view of the fight.

As luck would have it, they were spotted by none other than Jasmine of the Femme Fetales. She called out with her hands cupped around her mouth, "Hey Marche! Vaan! Montblanc! Over here!" She gestured at a few seats that were near the rest of her group.

Marching over, they plopped down on the uncomfortable seats.

"Jordan's competing too?" Marche asked.

"Yeah!" Jasmine replied. "Jamie too!"

"Jordan's gonna wipe the floor with your friend," Jackie taunted.

Jocelyn grabbed her staff and smacked Jackie in the head with it. "She means no ill will. She's not right in the head. Please forgive her," the viera White Mage apologized in her twin's stead.

"And who's fault is it that I'm not 'right in the head', huh?!" Jackie asked Jocelyn as she rubbed the bump on her head. "Crazy psycho b-..." Jackie's mumblings trailed off, although it was obvious that she was continuing to curse her sister.

Vaan found it funny, which was apparent when he had to slap his hand against his mouth to prevent the laughter from escaping.

The group slowly quieted down when an announcer appeared in the middle of the arena. It was an aged nu mou with grayish skin and a lot of wrinkles.

"Welcome to the 312nd Cyril Swordsmanship Competition! As many of you already know, the competitors are competing for a magnificent prize, which will be revealed to the winner only. There are 96 competitors. Matches will start off with a qualifier, where eight people will be fighting in the arena at one time. This means there'll be twelve qualifying matches.

"The last two to remain in each qualifier will move onto the first round, where the two will do battle with the winners of two other qualifiers. This means there'll be six competitors in each match in the first round. There will be four matches total for this round.

"Again, the last two to remain will move onto the third round. Here, they will fight against the winners of the other branch. This means four people will be fighting in the third round.

"The two winners of the third round will fight the each other in a one-on-one battle for the prize and the honor of being the 312nd champion of the Cyril Swordsmanship Competition. All competitors will be healed in between rounds by the judge. Now that all of that is out of the way, let us begin the first round!"

Eight competitors marched out of the waiting area into the center platform, where the battle would take place. The platform, which was shaped like a square, was soon occupied by the contestants. It was a good thing that the platform was pretty large, or the eight competitors would be packed too tight to swing their swords around.

"You are eliminated if you are killed, if you surrender, if you use items, if you are kicked out of the ring, or if you are unconscious. All injured parties will be healed for the next round. Begin!" the judge commanded.

The eight competitors immediately started to attack each other. One moment, they were all standing there, the next, everything was a blur. Pretty soon, the first person was eliminated. It was a human Soldier. The man looked to be in his thirties, which meant that he had started with a different job when he first started. As the Soldier was the basis of the short-range jobs, it meant that he was either an Archer or Hunter, or he was a type of mage. Mage seemed to be most likely, as he was eliminated pretty quickly.

Two more dropped like flies, having been, literally, kicked out of the ring.

With five people remaining, it left more room for them to maneuver themselves and utilize their techniques.

"Air Render!" one man shouted and punched the air with his free hand. A bangaa Warrior was punched out of the ring by the blast of air, leaving only four. Each competitor took a corner of the square platform, eyes darting back and forth from one enemy to another, trying to detect who would make the first move.

The audience held their breaths as the four competitors continued to stand there in silence.

"Air Blast!" The Fighter standing in the top right corner slashed his sword, releasing a wide blast of air.

The other three ducked under the attack before retaliating.

"Body Slam!" The bangaa who had been standing in the bottom right corner charged at the Fighter and rammed his much larger body into the other competitor. The Fighter was sent flying right over the edge, but through some act of godly intervention, the Fighter managed to stab his sword into the arena, halting his ejection from the ring.

The bangaa had turned away the moment he saw the Fighter fly over the ring, assuming that he would be eliminated. As a result, it brought a great look of surprise on his face when he heard a voice shout, "Beatdown!" from behind him.

The Fighter had quickly recovered from his near elimination before deciding to take out the bangaa with an attack while he was distracted. His attack slashed straight down the tall bangaa's back, releasing a spurt of blood.

A viera Fencer stabbed her rapier forward, shouting, "Nighthawk!" A projectile erupted from her weapon, aimed right at the back of the Fighter, who leaped to the right. Unfortunately, he leaped right into the path of the fourth competitor: a bangaa Gladiator. A quick stab at the chest, and the Fighter was downed.

"Winners!" the judge announced.

All injured parties were healed and teleported to the waiting room.

The crowd clapped loudly and cheered, having seen an entertaining match.

Following that, eight more people appeared from the waiting room.

-

Nine hours passed by quickly, and the Cyril Swordsmanship Competition was only on its seventh qualifying match. So far, neither Jordan, Jamie, nor Ramza had fought yet.

The sixth battle just ended, with the two winners being a Paladin and a Defender. Both had jobs that specialized in defense, so it was no surprise when the two waited for the other six competitors to take each other out before finishing off the remainder. It helped that any attacks against them were always blocked, or if not blocked, did very little damage to them.

The competition was halted for today, as it was getting late. The judge had announced that the seventh match would start at noon tomorrow, so both the Outlanders and the Femme Fetales had some time to relax. Or train, as Ramza had insisted on doing.

Vaan and Marche quickly forced a halt in this thinking when they dragged him with Montblanc to accompany the Femme Fetales for a night of partying.

Arriving at the pub, they quickly ordered drinks. They started off with lighter drinks. As in, drinks that would not give them a huge migraine the next morning. As the night progressed, the light drinks were replaced by alcohol, and soon, a red-faced Ramza was on the table top, arm draped over Jordan (who was on the table with Ramza), singing a song as loudly as he could.

The rest of the bar joined in after a few verses, and soon, the entire pub was filled with the loud bellowing of a bunch of drunkards who wished they could sing.

This continued for the rest of the night, or at least what was left of it.

-

A/N: Swords in Cyril, mission 264, is a dispatch mission for Fencers only, but I changed to allow any job that used a variant of swords. Greatswords, broadswords, knightswords, rapiers, katanas, knives, blades, etc. I thought this would be a fun mission to write about, since I've always wished that it was a normal battle mission.

On another note, I just realized of all my stories, this is my best planned story. I have lots of ideas I want to implement, most of which will take a lot of time to get to. At the same time, this is also my worst planned story, since I am just picking random missions to do until they reach the point where I can implement my better ideas. It mostly includes introducing some new characters, and following the story line (somewhat).

-

List of all the places in FF Tactics Advance:

Cyril: Busy town. The monster bank is on its outskirts. Ramsen Armory, The Prancing Chocobo  
Sphrom: Bangaa mountain town. Home to the prison.  
Bervenia Palace: Capital of Ivalice.  
Muscadet: Mainly viera town hidden deep in the woods.  
Cadoan: Nu mou town. The seat of knowledge and alchemy.  
Baguba Port: Moogle town with a large mercantile airship port.  
Nubswood: Deep, dark forest. Popular hideout for thieves.  
Giza Plains: Rolling grassy plains. Muscmaloi grows here.  
Kudik Peaks: Towering peaks. Home to an endangered tiger.  
Uladon Bog: Deep and dangerous bogland dotted with islands.  
Jeraw Sands: Hot sands blow in this largest desert in Ivalce  
Lutia Pass: Much-traveled pass, with the occasional roadshop.  
Koringwood: Refreshing wood filled with ambient pure magic.  
Ulei River: Largest River in Ivalice. Winds through swamplands.  
Aisenfield: Plains where the thirteen knights of legend fought.  
Roda Volcano: Volcano asleep for 300 years. Recently active.  
Eluut Sands: Dangerous desert home to many fiends and treasure.  
Nargal Cave: A cool wind blows from inside this cave. An ancient city is said to sleep in its depths.  
Salikawood: The chirping of birds can always be heard here. An abandoned keep stands in the middle of the wood.  
Delia Dunes: Desert area famous for its barking sands. Said to be formed from a celestial beast's bones.  
Gotor Sands: Desert famous for its mirages and red chocobos.  
Ozmonfield: Gently rolling plains with occasional insect plagues.  
Deti Plains: Flatlands of yellow sand and red earth. Amber can often be found here among the rocks.  
Siena Gorge: Deep valley. A source of amber, like Deti Plains.  
Materiwood: Lush green forest famous for its materite ore.  
Tubola Cave: These caves were once mined for their mythril.  
Jagd Dorsa: Lawless jagd. A deserted town.  
Jagd Helje: Lawless jagd where ghostly voices are heard.  
Jagd Ahli: Lawless jagd destroyed by its own wild magic.  
Ambervale: Beautiful valley where rocks glow amber. The kings of Ivalice had a summer palace here.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

A/N:

Sorry folks, but when I was editing chapter 4, I replaced this chapter with the edited version...

I'll just briefly summarizes what happens to you, since I can't remember any of the details of what happened, and retyping it would take way too long...*cries*

Chapter 5 summary: Jamie and Ramza are in the 7th qualifier together, and they manage to fight a tough battle and win. After that, in the 11th qualifier (the winners of the 1-6th and 8-10th qualifiers are not important), Jamie reveals a godlike technique called Lightspeed, which enables her to travel at the speed of light. Using it, she manages to kill two idiot brothers who had declared that they were going to win. After that, she kills a moogle. All of this happened before anyone else could even react. And on with the show...

-

Here's the only memorable scene in chapter 5. Managed to type this up somewhat quickly from memory. It's the very last scene in the chapter.

-

"Haha! We're gonna kick _all _of your asses!" one brother yelled.

"Yeah, you won't be able to beat us, 'cause we're the undefeatable Lozzini brothers!"

Jamie crouched down low, and whispered harshly, "Lightspeed."

In the blink of an eye, the two brothers fell to the ground, their throats slit.

All of the contestants blinked, watching the brothers gurgle with their last breaths.

They heard the Thief whisper again.

"Lightspeed."

This time, a moogle fell, his neck also slit. When the rest of the contestants looked over at the sound of the moogle's cries, they saw the young girl, crouched above his body.

Brandishing her dagger in front of her, she stated. "Bring it on..."


	6. Chapter 6

___**EDIT (READ THIS):**_ oh my god...i just realized that when i was editing chapter 4 a few days ago, i reposted it as chapter 5, thus deleting the real one...i honestly do not think i can retype all of what was in there, so I'll just summarize it.

Chapter 5 summary: Jamie and Ramza are in the 7th qualifier together, and they manage to fight a tough battle and win. After that, in the 11th qualifier (the winners of the 1-6th and 8-10th qualifiers are not important), Jamie reveals a godlike technique called Lightspeed, which enables her to travel at the speed of light. Using it, she manages to kill two idiot brothers who had declared that they were going to win. After that, she kills a moogle. All of this happened before anyone else could even react. And on with the show...

Chapter 6

Three were dead, and the battle had just started.

This was due cause for panic for the other four participants.

Well, at least it should've been due cause. However, a big man, six feet tall at least, with muscles the size of barrels, laughed uproariously and swung his massive Ogun Blade in a circle above his head, before planting the tip into the arena floor.

The fact that the _floor _was made of _stone _three feet thick was not missed by anyone.

He planted his massive hands on the grip of the blade and shouted, "I am Lu!"

Unlike the two idiot brothers, the others could tell that this man was strong. All you had to do was take a look at his muscles, and you'd know that.

"Show me a good time!" Lu shouted, and he yanked the blade out of the ground, pulling up several chunks of rock at the same time. He turned to a viera Fencer and swung a downward slash at her with both hands. The viera dodged, but the sword left a huge gash in the _stone _floor several feet long.

"Don't run from me!" The huge man lumbered off to follow her.

Jamie, now perched over a fourth dead moogle body, calmly watched Lu chase one of the viera. The second viera, hoping that the amazingly quick Thief was not paying attention, quickly dashed at Jamie to eliminate her quickly with a stab to the chest.

Just as the Assassin was about to hit, Jamie snapped her head up, staring into the viera's eyes, and disappeared again.

The Assassin, expecting an attack from behind, spun around, only to see Jamie standing where she had been only moments before.

"Lightspeed," Jamie whispered menacingly.

The viera flinched, expecting to be eliminated right then, but when a cry of pain came from her left, she quickly spun her head to the source of the outcry. There the viera found the quick Thief on Lu's back, knife plunged in between his shoulderblades.

The man was so packed with muscles though, that it didn't do much to him. Instead, he tried to swat her off with his giant blade.

Jamie leapt away, and a small amount of blood spurted out. Lu spun to face her, but that left his back wide open for the Fencer.

"P-piercethrough," the shaken viera declared, shooting a wave of energy at Lu's unprotected back side.

By announcing the name of her attack though, she had given away the element of surprise, as Lu smashed the flat side of his enormous blade into her side, propelling her way off the arena and into the stands. There she lay, unconscious, and with an awkwardly twisted arm.

She was immediately teleported by the judge to the side, where she would be left until the match ended.

And that left three. The Assassin then decided to attack Lu, hoping that her luck against him would be better than her luck against Jamie.

"Wild Swing!" Lu shouted as he began to spin with his sword out. His attack turned him into a lethal tornado that would slice up anything that approached. The Assassin, using her superior speed, stabbed at Lu when the man's sword was facing the other direction, but the large man proved his superiority by nimbly sidestepping it (still swinging his sword around in a circle, by the way), and slashing at the viera from shoulder to hip.

The viera flew back and hit the ground, sending blood flying from her wound. Lu freely approached her with a smile on his face.

"Sorry, you lose," he said.

Bringing his blade up, he prepared to slam it in the viera's stomach when a blur appeared in front of him. It was Jamie, and the girl had snuck in at the last moment, using her knife to end the viera's life.

There was a pause before the judge announced them as the winners, causing a huge cheer to erupt from the crowd.

What a way to end the last match of the qualifying round!

"Hey, that was my kill!" Lu yelled angrily.

Jamie flipped her red hair over her shoulder as she looked up at the looming Lu. "Sorry," she said with a shrug. "I guess I'm just better."

Lu yelled angrily, but the surprising Thief left before he could do anything, leaving him to rant to the air.

She was met by her clan and the Outlanders, all of whom were praising her with astounded looks on their faces (except Jordan, who's face was one of pride). To celebrate, they once again went out for a night of partying. This time though, Ramza was smart enough to not get totally plastered.

-

It was nighttime. Jamie was on the roof of the bar, where her friends were out cold below.

The bartender, used to this kind of behavior, warned them that they were only allowed to stay here until nine in the morning, or they'd either have to get out or buy something.

Her legs dangled precariously over the edge of the roof. Her hands were planted firmly at her side as she stared up at the full moon above. It was a peaceful night.

Suddenly, there was a creak.

She ignored the sound, and continued looking up into the night sky.

"What you did today...that was awesome!" Vaan exclaimed as he sat down beside her.

She grunted in acceptance of the praise.

"You remember that day when we fought?"

She nodded silently.

"Were you really holding back on me? A lot?"

She nodded again.

"Wow..." Vaan sighed. "You're so strong. So fast! You think you can umm...teach me a few things?" he asked quietly.

Jamie turned her head towards the white-haired Thief. Her sharp, blue eyes stared into Vaan's own hazelnut eyes. "Ok," she whispered, even more quiet that Vaan.

She got up and beckoned Vaan to follow her. She took three steps away from the edge of the roof, spun around, and leapt off onto the ground.

Vaan stared at her, jaw hanging down to the ground.

"Come," she whispered. "Follow."

Vaan gulped and nodded. He stepped away from the edge and prepared himself, both for the physical impact and the mental impact. Taking a deep breath, he ran right to the edge and jumped. The moment he hit the ground, instincts forced him to bend his knees and roll, taking away the momentum that could've hurt him.

When he got back to his feet, Jamie took off. She leapt up into the air and placed her foot on a wall, before pushing off onto the adjacent wall. Continuing, she managed to get herself all the way back to the rooftop of the building next to the bar.

Vaan sighed, before he attempted to do the same. It took him a few times (he kept falling), but he eventually reached the top. Continuing onwards, she slipped around metal bars, leapt over various box-shaped implements, climbed up more walls, and other feats that seemed extraordinary.

By the time they returned to the roof of the bar, Vaan was doubled over, hands on his knees, inhaling great amounts of air. He started to sit down, but Jamie stopped him.

"Don't. Keep standing. Sitting after a lot of exercise is bad for your body."

Vaan groaned loudly, returning to his previous position. Taking in a deep breath, he asked, "Is this how you got so good?"

She shook her head, her red hair sent flying everywhere. "It's only part of my training."

"Part?!" Vaan tried to ask incredulously. Instead, his one word question came out more like a squeak.

"I'm an insomniac. I can't sleep too well, and the most I ever get to sleep at once is an hour. So, I tend to just stay up and practice throwing the dagger around, I practice my speed, my agility, my flexibility..." she slowly trailed off. This was the only other person besides her sister Jordan that she had ever really opened up to, so it was natural that she would be a bit hesitant and shy about it. Taking a deep breath, she continued, "I practice and practice. I guess that's what helps me get so good."

"Wow," Vaan commented. "Do...do you think we can keep training? At night?"

"...I'll think about it."

-

The next day was the start of the first round.

The first and second matches of the first round were over quickly. For the third match, it was Ramza and Jordan's turn. They were up against the winners of the eighth and ninth qualifiers: a Ninja, a Paladin, an Assassin, and a Dragoon.

Looking around warily, Ramza and Jordan split up, running in opposite directions. Being friends and all, it was agreed that they would not target each until other until it's necessary (which would be during the finals).

Swinging his Silver Sword, Ramza managed to lightly cut the Ninja's arm, but the Ninja growled and swung his katana back and thrust his hand out.

"Metal Veil!" A flash of gray appeared before Ramza, but he closed his eyes before the effect could take place.

When the technique subsided, he opened his eyes again and quickly tried to stab the ninja. At that moment, the Dragoon, a blue bangaa, stepped forward and released a Fire Breath, hoping to eliminate two contenders at once.

Feeling the rush of heat to his side, Ramza abandoned his attack and opted to retreat, leaving only the Ninja to be burned to death.

Jordan, on the other side of the arena, engaged the Paladin in a sword fight. The Paladin was an experienced warrior, and thus gave Jordan an extremely hard time. She swung low, and he swung high, both missing as the other evaded. With a clang, their swords met once more, and they began to struggle for dominance.

While all this happened, the Assassin calmly stood off to the side, watching the others fight, waiting for an opportune moment to eliminate her foes.

Luckily for her, her moment came when she saw Ramza's back unprotected, as he fought off the blue bangaa.

Forming a seal with her hand, she shouted, "Rockseal!"

Ramza cursed when he suddenly noticed that his mobility was cut in half. The bottom half of his left leg was petrified! The bangaa smirked at Ramza's sudden disadvantage, and pulled his spear back for one last attack.

The Soldier tried to back off, but when he suddenly tripped over some rubble, the spear went flying right over his head.

'_That was close!_' he thought.

Landing on his butt, his sword clattered out of his hand, and he watched as the spear descended on him.

Suddenly, a shout from to his right was heard.

"Holy Cross!"

The Paladin released a wall of holy energy from within him, which pushed Jordan away and sent her flying to the edge of the arena, before expanding even further to hit Ramza, the Dragoon, and the Assassin.

Only the Assassin was sent out of the arena, disqualifying her immediately.

Ramza, on the other hand, felt like he had been punched in the face and the stomach. Repeatedly.

Moaning, he continued to lay where he was.

Jordan and the Dragoon pushed themselves up, grabbing their fallen weapons and preparing to fight, despite obvious signs of fatigue. The Paladin was also just as tired, as he had released one of his strongest attacks. The Dragoon took two steps forward and prepared to lean down on his spear, which would've buried itself into Ramza's gut, but the blond Soldier managed to weakly kick out at the Dragoon's knee, causing him to lose his balance, and the spear to plunge into the rock a few inches away from his head.

"Nurse!" the Paladin cried, throwing his free hand into the air. The magic gathered in his palm spread around himself, healing his fatigue to a minor degree. "Defend!" With that technique, he bent down to one knee and crossed his sword over his chest, his free hand crossing over the sword. He glared at the two standing, daring them to attack.

The Dragoon, weak from the Paladin's Holy Cross, finally collapsed, unable to continue standing any longer.

This left the match down to a weak but still conscious Ramza, Jordan, and the Paladin.

"Ramza, hurry up and get up!" Jordan hissed as she stared at the Paladin.

The blond moaned again, and finally pushed himself up onto his elbows. Another moan, accompanied with a groan of exertion, and he was on his feet, although he was swaying a little.

"First Aid!" Ramza called, and he his wounds slightly lessened. "First Aid! First Aid!" He managed to shout out the technique two more times, restoring more of his health, until the Paladin decided that it would be a bad idea to let him continue.

With a roar, the Paladin rushed at Ramza and slashed downward. Ramza sidestepped it and brought his Silver Sword to chest level and swung horizontally. The Paladin managed to bring back his weapon and block the weapon, pushing it away with a greater force and causing Ramza to lose his balance. The Paladin sought to end it with a final thrust, but unfortunately, he found a second Silver Sword protruding from his chest. Craning his neck around, he saw the other Soldier.

"Fuck, I forgot about her," he muttered before he fell, dead.

Ramza sighed audibly in relief, but it was drowned by the cheering of the crowd as the judge announced them as the winners and healed the participants.

"Final match of the first round! Participants, please step forward!" the judge announced once everyone left.

Jamie, one of the six contenders stepped past Ramza and her sister, who whispered a quick good luck, before hurrying back to where their friends were to watch the next match.

"Who do you think is going to be the winners of this one?" Ramza heard a man ask as he walked by.

"The Thief girl and Lu. Definitely," the man's companion answered confidently.

"Want to place a wager on that? I bet you..."

The rest of the two's words were lost as Jamie and Ramza moved on.

-

"Final match of the first round. Begin!"

-

A/N: Merry Christmas and happy holidays everyone! Hope you enjoy this chapter! Sorry about the big fuck up over last chapter...

-

List of all the places in FF Tactics Advance:

Cyril: Busy town. The monster bank is on its outskirts. Ramsen Armory, The Prancing Chocobo  
Sphrom: Bangaa mountain town. Home to the prison.  
Bervenia Palace: Capital of Ivalice.  
Muscadet: Mainly viera town hidden deep in the woods.  
Cadoan: Nu mou town. The seat of knowledge and alchemy.  
Baguba Port: Moogle town with a large mercantile airship port.  
Nubswood: Deep, dark forest. Popular hideout for thieves.  
Giza Plains: Rolling grassy plains. Muscmaloi grows here.  
Kudik Peaks: Towering peaks. Home to an endangered tiger.  
Uladon Bog: Deep and dangerous bogland dotted with islands.  
Jeraw Sands: Hot sands blow in this largest desert in Ivalce  
Lutia Pass: Much-traveled pass, with the occasional roadshop.  
Koringwood: Refreshing wood filled with ambient pure magic.  
Ulei River: Largest River in Ivalice. Winds through swamplands.  
Aisenfield: Plains where the thirteen knights of legend fought.  
Roda Volcano: Volcano asleep for 300 years. Recently active.  
Eluut Sands: Dangerous desert home to many fiends and treasure.  
Nargal Cave: A cool wind blows from inside this cave. An ancient city is said to sleep in its depths.  
Salikawood: The chirping of birds can always be heard here. An abandoned keep stands in the middle of the wood.  
Delia Dunes: Desert area famous for its barking sands. Said to be formed from a celestial beast's bones.  
Gotor Sands: Desert famous for its mirages and red chocobos.  
Ozmonfield: Gently rolling plains with occasional insect plagues.  
Deti Plains: Flatlands of yellow sand and red earth. Amber can often be found here among the rocks.  
Siena Gorge: Deep valley. A source of amber, like Deti Plains.  
Materiwood: Lush green forest famous for its materite ore.  
Tubola Cave: These caves were once mined for their mythril.  
Jagd Dorsa: Lawless jagd. A deserted town.  
Jagd Helje: Lawless jagd where ghostly voices are heard.  
Jagd Ahli: Lawless jagd destroyed by its own wild magic.  
Ambervale: Beautiful valley where rocks glow amber. The kings of Ivalice had a summer palace here.


End file.
